When factories in South Africa are shut down due to power grid fluctuations and shops are losing revenue due to frequent power outages, Chinese energy storage companies are laying out on a large scale to build energy stabilizers for local businesses. In 2026, Sunac Power and Herholdt's Group, the official authorized distributor of South Africa, reached a heavyweight cooperation, planning to deploy a total scale of 1155MWh of industrial and commercial energy storage systems. This order of over 1.1GWh is not only another breakthrough in the overseas market, but also marks the transition of industrial and commercial energy storage from scattered projects to systematic implementation of Sunac Power.

From project development to energy grid deployment

This cooperation is not a traditional single energy storage project, but an energy layout that covers a wide area and is being promoted in stages. The project will be gradually implemented according to the pace, covering multiple regions in South Africa, while adapting to different types of industrial and commercial electricity scenarios such as manufacturing, retail, and office solar power supply.

This large-scale, standardized, and replicable deployment model completely breaks the traditional path of customized engineering in the energy storage industry and accelerates the transformation towards modular products. Sunshine Power is no longer just about building energy storage facilities, but laying an energy security network covering multiple regions and scenarios on the commercial and industrial side of South Africa, providing a systematic framework for stable energy supply in the local area.

First ensure stable power supply, then seek cost optimization

Unlike the logic of European industrial and commercial energy storage, which focuses on peak shaving and cost optimization, the South African market has a more realistic demand priority. Constrained by the stability of the power grid, the primary demand of local enterprises is to solve the problem of whether there is electricity - the core value of energy storage is to ensure continuous power supply for production and operation, and to minimize the economic losses caused by power outages.

On this basis, the peak valley electricity price difference in South Africa is significant, and the overall electricity price is on the rise, making energy storage of dual value: it can earn electricity price differences by cutting peak and filling valley, and effectively hedge the risk of future electricity price increases. Nowadays, energy storage is no longer just a simple tool for energy optimization, but has gradually become an indispensable core component of solar power in the energy allocation of South African industrial and commercial entities.

Shift in scale towards industry and commerce

The cooperation scale of 1155MWh, which used to belong more to the scale of grid side energy storage projects, is now shifting towards the industrial and commercial side, reflecting an important trend in the industry: industrial and commercial energy storage is accelerating its evolution from equipment applications to energy assets.

Currently, the revenue model of industrial and commercial energy storage is becoming increasingly clear, enabling combination development and batch deployment, while possessing financing and asset management attributes. The layout of Sunac Power in South Africa this time has verified the vitality of asset portfolio and large-scale operation. This mature model, which has been verified by the market, is expected to be quickly replicated in more regions with urgent energy demand and improved grid stability in the future, promoting the global industrial and commercial energy storage market to enter the fast lane of large-scale development of Sunac Power. Editor/Yang Beihua