On May 15, 2026, the advanced optical storage industry base project in Hefei High tech Zone officially started construction, marking the transition of this industrial hub with an investment of nearly 10 billion yuan from the planning blueprint to the substantive construction stage. At present, the installed capacity of new energy storage in China has exceeded 120GW, and the energy storage industry cluster in the Yangtze River Delta region is accelerating its formation. Hefei High tech Zone is becoming the most dynamic growth pole in Anhui Province's new energy map with an industrial scale of over 120 billion yuan.

Acceleration from drawings to construction site

The total investment of the project is nearly 10 billion yuan, covering an area of about 700 acres, with a planned total construction area of nearly 600000 square meters. It will be constructed in two phases, focusing on building a research and development center headquarters, an energy storage battery cell manufacturing base, and related supporting facilities. The first phase focuses on battery cell manufacturing and R&D headquarters, and is expected to complete equipment debugging and officially start production by the end of November 2026; The second phase will expand supporting production capacity, and once fully completed, it will have an annual production capacity of 30GWh of energy storage lithium-ion batteries, with an estimated annual output value of 9 billion yuan. Based on the current average price of energy storage batteries, a production capacity of 30GWh corresponds to a market size of approximately 18 billion yuan. After the project reaches production capacity, it is expected to occupy more than 15% of the energy storage battery market in Hefei.

A project leverages an industry chain

This project is not only about expanding production capacity, but also a key milestone in strengthening the industrial chain. After completion, it will attract upstream and downstream enterprises such as battery materials, system integration, and supporting equipment to gather, further improving the regional industrial ecology. In recent years, Hefei High tech Zone has focused on the two major tracks of advanced photovoltaics and new energy storage, continuously laying out key links such as photovoltaic modules, inverters, and energy storage systems. It has gathered more than 50 leading enterprises and key enterprises in the industrial chain, such as Sunac Power, Hefei JA Solar, and Midea Hikvision. Keywords: New energy latest news, Domestic new energy latest news

In the first quarter of 2026, the output value of the new energy industry in the entire region increased by 31% year-on-year, and the growth rate of the energy storage sector reached as high as 44%. This growing photovoltaic storage base is writing a new footnote for the new energy storage landscape in Hefei and even the Yangtze River Delta.Editor/Cheng Liting