【Polaris Energy Storage Network】Case Study | In the Era of Operations, How Independent Energy Storage Maintains First-Tier Returns
With the formal implementation of capacity compensation mechanisms and the transition of electricity spot markets into regular operation, the market-based profitability of independent energy storage has entered a critical stage of evaluation.
This trend has placed higher requirements on the reliability of energy storage equipment and full lifecycle service capabilities. Under these circumstances, energy storage equipment suppliers urgently need to accelerate transformation and upgrade.
01
Behind the “Land Banking Without Construction” Cleanup Wave, Independent Energy Storage in Inner Mongolia Continues Rapid Expansion
As mandatory renewable energy storage requirements gradually exit the stage of history, independent energy storage projects have emerged as a new market opportunity.
Especially in 2025, industry demand for capacity electricity pricing continued to rise, triggering a nationwide acceleration in independent energy storage development.
Multiple stakeholders entered the market to compete for project opportunities.
A large number of project owners and investors held significant project resources but remained in long-term observation, waiting for policies that could improve profitability to be implemented.
However, after capacity compensation policies were introduced in various regions, the industry gradually realized that this mechanism was not a “guaranteed salary,” but rather a benefit that requires strong operational capabilities to obtain.
When actual project returns fell significantly below initial expectations, many investors faced difficult decisions.
As a result, bidding, contract signing, and construction schedules were delayed, and some regional energy planning layouts were also affected.
For this reason, since 2025, many regions across China have launched reviews and cleanup campaigns targeting independent energy storage projects that were merely “secured but not constructed.”
Among them, Ningxia, Shanxi, and Hebei have taken particularly strong measures.
In contrast, independent energy storage in Inner Mongolia continues to expand rapidly, benefiting from abundant resource advantages and supportive policies.
Since 2026, the region has released three batches of independent energy storage project lists totaling 21GW/84.26GWh, all scheduled to be connected to the grid by 2027.
Meanwhile, in the first half of 2026, China’s newly added new-type energy storage capacity reached 17GW/45GWh, with cumulative installed capacity reaching 153GW/396GWh.
This means that Inner Mongolia’s annual provincial-level planning target alone is equivalent to approximately one-fifth of China’s cumulative installed capacity and may even exceed the country’s newly added capacity for the entire year.
However, this has also raised more questions among industry participants:
Can projects of such scale achieve timely grid connection?
Can they generate stable returns?
02
Under High Subsidies, A New Installation Rush Emerges, With Integrated AC/DC Systems Taking the Lead
From a cost perspective, energy storage investment costs in Inner Mongolia are among the lowest nationwide.
Since 2026, the average EPC price of lithium iron phosphate energy storage systems has been approximately RMB 0.7584/Wh, while the average bidding price for energy storage systems has been around RMB 0.536/Wh.
This has created one of the most favorable conditions for energy storage project development.
Secondly, Inner Mongolia was among the first regions in China to clearly introduce discharge electricity subsidies for independent energy storage.
The combination of these two factors has created favorable investment return conditions for energy storage projects.
However, Inner Mongolia’s capacity compensation mechanism adopts a gradual reduction policy.
Projects connected to the grid within 2025 can receive a subsidy of RMB 0.35/kWh for up to 10 years, while the subsidy standard decreases to RMB 0.28/kWh in the following year.
During the first wave of installation acceleration at the end of 2025, the Taiyaoxin Energy Storage Power Station stood out among many projects.
Wang Yangjun, Assistant General Manager of JDEnergy and Head of the Engineering Center:
“The project completed delivery of all equipment within only 60 days and completed full-station commissioning and the ‘three charge-three discharge’ verification process within just 7 days. Delivering this GWh-scale project created a new delivery record for us.”
This achievement relied on the string-based AC/DC integrated energy storage system supplied by JDEnergy.
According to reports, the Inner Mongolia Taiyaoxin Energy Storage Power Station has a capacity of 500MW/2000MWh.
The project is equipped with 400 units of JDEnergy’s flagship Galaxy-1 string-based prefabricated cabins and 100 units of eLink-HV35 integrated collector and step-up units.
The project is connected to the Xiangtai Substation through a 220kV step-up substation and a single transmission line.
“Traditional centralized energy storage systems usually configure battery cabins and energy storage PCS separately, requiring repeated commissioning after arriving at the project site.
Our string-based energy storage system completes all commissioning procedures before leaving the factory,” Wang Yangjun explained.
The project site only needs to connect the EMS for commissioning, significantly improving grid connection efficiency.
Because of this, the 2GWh energy storage project was successfully delivered and connected to the grid within an extremely short construction period, allowing it to secure the high subsidy of RMB 0.35/kWh.
However, subsidies are only the foundation.
The overall economic performance of the project still depends on actual operational returns after commissioning, which places significant demands on equipment efficiency and post-operation management capabilities.
03
Electricity Trading: Capturing Every High-Value Revenue Opportunity
The Taiyaoxin Energy Storage Power Station is located in Dukou County, Bayannur City, Inner Mongolia.
The area lies on the edge of the desert, where the Yellow River passes through, and is also located in the wind corridor between the Helan Mountains and Langshan Mountains.
As a result, it possesses exceptional wind and solar resource conditions.
According to official data, the region has an annual sunshine duration exceeding 3,300 hours, with an average annual wind speed of approximately 6.5–7.15 meters per second.
However, relying on natural conditions also brings challenges.
The intermittency and volatility of wind and photovoltaic power generation can threaten grid stability.
To achieve coordinated interaction between “source and grid,” energy storage has become the key solution.
For this reason, Dukou County has become one of the first locations in China to plan and implement GWh-scale energy storage projects.
Data shows that in the first half of 2026, negative electricity price periods in the Inner Mongolia West power grid generally accounted for 27%–45% of monthly trading hours, reaching as high as 57.7% in February.
Negative prices appeared almost every noon.
For power generation companies, this creates pressure; for energy storage, it represents an opportunity.
Especially in regions rich in wind and solar resources, every month contains 30 days with 96 trading periods per day.
Electricity prices at each time node can vary significantly.
Energy storage systems must capture more favorable price points for charging and discharging in order to obtain higher price-spread returns.
However, it is worth noting that behind Inner Mongolia’s high capacity electricity price subsidy mechanism is a daily average charging and discharging cycle limitation of no more than 1.5 times for energy storage power stations.
This means that if a power station fails to capture the correct operating rhythm and charges or discharges at the wrong time, not only will electricity price arbitrage revenue decrease significantly, but subsidy eligibility may also be affected.
The Taiyaoxin Energy Storage Power Station adopts a sawtooth charging and discharging operation strategy, with daily charging and discharging cycles maintained at 1.3–1.4 times.
The station’s monthly revenue performance remains among the top tier in the industry.
“After entering the electricity spot market, all charging and discharging strategies of the power station are determined by us.
Ultimately, we control the charging and discharging behavior of the energy storage system through the electricity trading platform, achieving higher returns.”
Wang Suitao, Deputy General Manager of Xi’an JDEnergy Yuntan Technology Co., Ltd., explained that based on an industry-leading AI electricity trading intelligent agent large model, JDEnergy independently developed a new-generation intelligent power trading operation platform — the eTrader intelligent power trading operation platform used in this project.
Moreover, the company has accumulated more than 10GWh of operated energy storage power stations across regions including Gansu, Inner Mongolia West, and Ningxia.
The operational returns of these projects have consistently remained among the top tier in their respective regions.
This extensive operational experience enables the electricity trading platform to become more intelligent.
Every day, the platform analyzes electricity supply and demand conditions and current market conditions, generates multiple operational strategies for the next day’s electricity trading, and provides AI-recommended solutions to accurately capture peak-valley price spread opportunities.
“AI agent technology enables intelligent management of the entire electricity trading value chain, from pre-investment, investment implementation, to post-operation.
With only a small number of electricity trading personnel, we can significantly improve the overall operational efficiency of the power station.”
Currently, the Taiyaoxin Energy Storage Power Station’s revenue performance remains among the top tier in the region.
Meanwhile, JDEnergy’s overall operational capabilities in the Ningxia and Inner Mongolia West markets are also among the industry leaders.
04
High Online Availability and High Efficiency: Increasing Revenue Per Kilowatt-Hour
It is worth noting that the typical desert and Gobi environment where Taiyaoxin Energy Storage is located presents significant challenges to the safety and reliability of energy storage equipment.
Extreme summer heat and winter cold may significantly affect energy storage safety and conversion efficiency, thereby influencing the amount of electricity discharged per kilowatt-hour — a key factor affecting project returns.
The string-based architecture that JDEnergy has consistently adhered to demonstrates excellent operational performance in this environment.
Because each battery cluster is independently managed, the system can effectively reduce capacity losses caused by battery inconsistencies, resulting in higher available system capacity.
According to Li Chen, Deputy General Manager of JDEnergy’s Marketing Division, within the Galaxy-1 energy storage system, the battery system and PCS adopt a dual-channel liquid cooling system.
This reduces system energy consumption and further improves conversion efficiency.
Ultimately, through JDEnergy’s self-developed BMS, EMS, and PCS based on the 3S integrated control concept, the system achieves deeper integration of energy storage control capabilities and enables optimal operation of the entire cabin.
According to the latest data released in August 2026, the conversion efficiency of the Taiyaoxin project at the 220kV grid connection point reached 88.5%.
Statistics from the China Electricity Council show that the average comprehensive efficiency of grid-side energy storage in China was 82% in 2025, with a benchmark value of 85%.
This means that the Taiyaoxin project exceeds the industry average by more than six percentage points.
Each charging and discharging cycle can release more electricity, ultimately transforming into stable and continuous revenue.
For large-scale energy storage power stations, long-term operation and maintenance also face greater challenges.
Equipment abnormality inspections and fault diagnosis can be time-consuming and labor-intensive.
However, supported by liquid cooling, fire protection systems, and an IP55 high-protection design, JDEnergy’s Galaxy-1 energy storage system further improves equipment operating stability.
In addition, the project adopts JDEnergy’s self-developed eMind-Station intelligent operation and maintenance system.
The system can scan the operating status of all equipment across the entire power station with one click and continuously analyze the operating data of each individual battery cell.
Through this, it can evaluate battery health status and provide early safety warnings.
Through the collaboration between the intelligent trading platform and the power station operation and maintenance platform, the system can also achieve rapid response and handling of energy storage equipment failures.
Since the project began operation, there have been no grid disconnections caused by equipment failures, maintenance shutdowns, or unplanned outages.
The online availability rate remains close to 100%, significantly reducing after-sales operation and maintenance costs.
Today, more and more investors have tightened their evaluation standards.
The financing capability of equipment has become an important criterion for assessing energy storage system integrators.
By creating a digital intelligent product ecosystem integrating “investment decision-making, intelligent operation, and smart maintenance,” JDEnergy has delivered a series of outstanding energy storage project operation results.
At the same time, these operational experiences continue to strengthen its equipment supply capabilities.
Because highly efficient and reliable equipment leads to stronger operational returns, it can also gain greater trust from investors.
The “15th Five-Year Plan for Renewable Energy Development” has clearly stated that by 2030, the average guaranteed output of national wind and solar power generation should exceed 8%.
To achieve this target, energy storage is an indispensable part of the solution.
The Taiyaoxin Energy Storage Power Station represents an outstanding example under this trend.
It not only improves local renewable energy consumption capability and ensures stable grid operation, but also promotes the transition of energy storage toward true commercial operation through both equipment strength and operational capabilities.
It has become a benchmark case for GWh-scale energy storage projects.
