China's flow battery market is crossing from demonstration phase into procurement at scale. Domestic new flow battery installations in 2026 are forecast to exceed 1.4 GW (140万千瓦), lifting cumulative deployment to roughly 3.6 GW (360万千瓦), while the character of orders has shifted from 'demonstration lists' to batch tenders.

Yunnan: a provincial list with no lithium

The clearest signal came in July 2026, when Yunnan's Development and Reform Commission and Energy Bureau published 13 new shared energy storage projects totalling 1,900 MW/7,600 MWh. Eleven of those projects are all-vanadium flow batteries, amounting to 1,500 MW/6,000 MWh — 78.9% of the listed capacity and, according to the source, the first time a provincial list in China has completely bypassed the lithium route.

Data centres enter the picture

China Mobile's Yangtze River Delta (Huainan) data centre completed procurement in February 2026 for a 7 MW/42 MWh all-vanadium flow battery, described as the country's first flow battery storage demonstration at a data centre — a load profile that rewards long-duration, non-flammable storage.

Price reality check

In 2026, four-hour all-vanadium flow systems are quoted at 1.9–2.0 yuan/Wh, against roughly 0.5–0.6 yuan/Wh for lithium iron phosphate (LFP). The cost structure explains the gap: electrolyte accounts for more than half of system cost, with stack bipolar plates and the proton membrane forming the second-largest cost block.

The shift to batch tenders matters because it forces vendors to compete on delivered cost, cycle life and warranty rather than on pilot-project novelty.

Asia's wider pipeline

Outside China, India is building domestic references. NTPC Renewable Energy is developing a 16.7 MW/100 MWh vanadium flow battery project at Khavda, Gujarat, described as an important opportunity for non-lithium battery technology in India's renewable market. Gujarat Industries Power Company's 20 MW/120 MWh vanadium flow battery project at Vadodara adds a further domestic reference for long-duration storage procurement.

Supply side scales too

Rongke Power is expanding vanadium flow battery manufacturing and electrolyte production in China. Its Dalian operations provide an important commercial reference for grid-scale storage, while its electrolyte manufacturing expansion supports future battery deployments — the supply chain link that determines whether the tender pipeline can actually be delivered on schedule.

This article was assisted by AI analysis. Please refer to the original source for official information.