"Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily" May 9 News (Reporters Xu Jie and Wang Chufan) On the morning of May 8, at the Chongqing Global Energy Storage Lighthouse Factory, HaiChen Energy Storage held a media group interview.

Wang Pengcheng, founder and president of HaiChen Energy Storage, and Ye Zhen, general manager of the Chongqing base, attended the group interview to comprehensively respond to industry concerns and explain to media outlets such as "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily" the long-duration energy storage strategic layout, extreme manufacturing barriers, globalization progress, and judgments on industry cycles, competitive landscape, and policy changes.

Wang Pengcheng stated that in the face of multiple challenges such as structural overcapacity, intensified homogeneous competition, and rising overseas geopolitical risks, HaiChen Energy Storage focuses on long-duration energy storage of 4 hours and above as its core breakthrough direction, adhering to the principle of "no expansion without leadership." With five major moats—focus, technology, manufacturing, globalization, and patents—HaiChen has entered the global new energy storage industry as the second player after six years of establishment.

Industry: It is not an overall surplus, but a structural supply-demand mismatch

Currently, the global energy storage industry is trapped in severe homogeneous competition, with the vast majority of companies concentrated in the 2-hour short-duration energy storage track, where product parameters are highly similar, ultimately leading to price wars for market share and continuous compression of industry profits.

Since 2022, HaiChen Energy Storage has proactively laid out the long-duration energy storage track, becoming one of the few companies in the industry to firmly abandon low-end competition and shift to the high-value long-duration track.

Wang Pengcheng stated that long-duration energy storage is not a conceptual hype but a rigid demand of the new power system. The 2-hour short-duration energy storage cannot solve the core issue of cross-period and cross-region adjustment of renewable energy generation and cannot truly support the integrated grid architecture of "source-grid-load-storage." Long-duration energy storage systems of 4 hours and above have significant advantages in terms of economy, stability, and grid adaptability, making them the mainstream direction for future new energy storage.

In terms of technological implementation, HaiChen Energy Storage has achieved a phased lead: it will complete the mass production and delivery of 4-hour long-duration cells and supporting systems by 2025; on December 12, 2025, it will release the world's first native 8-hour long-duration energy storage system, equipped with a dedicated 1300Ah long-duration cell, with a single system scale reaching 6.9MWh, an integration increase of 10%, and an integration efficiency increase of over 30%, with delivery expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Wang Pengcheng revealed that HaiChen Energy Storage will continue to release a new generation of long-duration energy storage solutions on December 12, 2026, to further consolidate its leading position in the track.

In response to the market's heated discussion on the viewpoint of "serious overcapacity in energy storage, which may repeat the mistakes of photovoltaics," Ye Zhen provided a judgment: the underlying logic of the development of energy storage is completely different from that of photovoltaics; the industry is not in overall surplus but rather in structural differentiation and supply-demand mismatch.

"Photovoltaics previously exhibited a 'land grab' style of expansion; whereas current energy storage is driven by the real demand from the grid, with orders coming from market entities, and the demand is sustainable, not a false prosperity. From the current industry situation, leading companies generally have a capacity utilization rate exceeding 95%, with factories at full capacity and orders extending to 2027; meanwhile, a large amount of low-end capacity is idle, and high-capacity, high-safety cells that meet new technology standards are 'hard to find.'" The industry is rapidly upgrading from 280Ah and 314Ah cells to 587Ah and kilowatt-hour level cells. The difficulty and cost of transforming old production lines are high, and the construction of new production lines and the ramp-up of yield require time, creating a temporary gap of "old lines ceasing production and insufficient supply from new lines."

Ye Zhen believes that curbing low-level redundant construction must rely on a dual drive of standards and the market: on one hand, using technical thresholds to block backward capacity, with grid-side bidding clearly prioritizing the use of large-capacity, high-safety cells above 500Ah; on the other hand, improving the peak-valley price difference and capacity compensation mechanism to enable the long-duration energy storage revenue model to operate smoothly, thereby eliminating inferior capacity in a market-oriented manner.

Adhere to "No Expansion Without Leadership"

The kilowatt-hour level cell production line required for long-duration energy storage has high technical requirements, high investment thresholds, and low supply elasticity, and the structural shortage will last longer than the industry estimates, which is a key window period for HaiChen Energy Storage to build barriers.

Wang Pengcheng stated that in just 6 years since its establishment, HaiChen Energy Storage has grown from an emerging enterprise to the second largest in the global new energy storage sector, relying on five major "moats":

First, extreme focus. Among lithium-ion energy storage companies with global shipments reaching GWh level, HaiChen is the only company that is 100% focused on the energy storage sector, not involving power batteries or consumer electronics batteries, with all R&D, production, and marketing resources fully invested in energy storage scenarios for deep penetration.

Second, product innovation. The company anticipated the demand for long-duration energy storage as early as 2022, taking the lead in verifying the feasibility of lithium batteries in long-duration scenarios, and successively launched 1175Ah and 1300Ah kilowatt-hour level cells and 4-hour and 8-hour systems, forming a comprehensive long-duration energy storage solution.

Third, extreme manufacturing barriers. The Chongqing base is the world's first lighthouse factory in the energy storage industry, equipped with self-developed fourth-generation intelligent manufacturing production lines, improving manufacturing efficiency by 30% and reducing manufacturing costs by 25%. Through AI + digital twin technology, the R&D cycle is shortened by 31%, product consistency is improved by 30%, and the defect rate reaches PPB level (parts per billion), truly achieving "factory productization."

Fourth, global localization capability. HaiChen is currently the only Chinese company that has established energy storage system production capacity in the United States, with a total investment of over $200 million in the Texas 10GW base, and over 60% of core components sourced locally, effectively bypassing tariff barriers and shortening delivery cycles by 40%. In Europe, a €400 million project in Spain has been signed, with plans to start production in 2027, and the company has achieved market coverage across all five continents.

Fifth, global patent layout. With over 4,000 patents accumulated, more than 56% of which are invention patents, the core markets in China, the U.S., and Europe have been laid out in advance, providing solid guarantees for technological and market expansion.

Wang Pengcheng stated that HaiChen adheres to "No Expansion Without Leadership," only laying out advanced production capacity and firmly rejecting low-level redundant construction.

In the face of external pressures such as geopolitical fluctuations and rising overseas tariffs, HaiChen Energy Storage adopts a strategy of "diversified markets + local manufacturing + local services + local supply chains" to steadily advance globalization In terms of layout, the U.S. market focuses on grid-level energy storage, with the Texas base having achieved the first batch of system shipments, and the localized ecosystem continues to improve; the European market, with Spain as a pivot, is building an integrated industrial chain to seize the dividends of Europe's energy transition. The company centers on differentiated long-duration energy storage products, combining localized manufacturing and services to form a stable global delivery capability.

Wang Pengcheng revealed that Haitian Energy Storage has fully locked in its annual production capacity, with orders extending to 2027, and the proportion of overseas demand continues to rise. The company has set a clear goal: by 2028, overseas revenue will account for more than 50%, firmly moving towards the global market and competing alongside international giants.

New Scene Explosion: AIDC Becomes the Largest Increment

Beyond traditional grid energy storage, AIDC (Artificial Intelligence Data Center) has become the most certain new market increment in the energy storage industry. Wang Pengcheng predicts that AIDC has three main characteristics: large power consumption, significant load pulse fluctuations, and electricity costs accounting for over 70%. It must rely on integrated solar and wind storage to ensure stable and economical power supply, with 2027 set to be the commercial year for AIDC energy storage.

On the technology front, Haitian promotes the synergistic and complementary application of lithium and sodium rather than simple substitution: lithium batteries are responsible for long-duration stable output, while sodium batteries, with their high rate and wide temperature range characteristics, adapt to AIDC pulse loads and low-temperature scenarios in Nordic regions. The company has launched an "8-hour lithium + 1-hour sodium" integrated solution, and as lithium carbonate prices rise, the process of scaling sodium battery applications continues to accelerate.

Regarding the cancellation of the energy storage export tax rebate policy by the end of 2026, Wang Pengcheng believes the overall impact is controllable and tends to be positive: first, it compresses the low-end production capacity and low-price competition space, forcing the industry to shift from price wars to competition in technology and quality; second, it repairs the overseas pricing mechanism, reducing price distortions caused by subsidies; third, it promotes companies to accelerate their global localization layout, which will benefit leading enterprises in the long term.

From an industry cycle perspective, geopolitical conflicts further strengthen global energy security awareness, making solar and wind storage the inevitable choice for countries to ensure energy autonomy. Coupled with the acceleration of global energy transition, the popularization of distributed energy, and the advancement of new power system construction, the long-term growth certainty of the energy storage industry is strong.

As Haitian's Southwest headquarters and global lighthouse factory, the Chongqing base has achieved a 70% supporting rate in the Sichuan-Chongqing region, establishing a one-hour supply chain ecosystem. The Chengdu-Chongqing region has a foundational lithium battery materials industry, and with Haitian as the chain leader's traction effect, along with strategic support from the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, there is still room for improvement in the local supporting rate, which will further enhance global delivery stability and risk resistance.

According to reporters from the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily, in 2026, Haitian Energy Storage will have several important developments: in June, the world's first long-duration energy storage zero-carbon industrial park will be put into production in Heze, Shandong; in September, the second phase of the Chongqing base will be put into production; and on December 12, a new generation of long-duration energy storage solutions will be globally launched