Beijing has put a freeze on new approvals of production facilities for energy-storage batteries amid worries about excess supply and vicious price competition, reports the South China Morning Post.

Companies had not been allowed to add new capacity since May, as key regulators like the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) stepped in to curb a construction spree that risked creating severe overcapacity despite rising demand from renewable-energy projects around the world, inside sources told the Post. The temporary ban could be lifted if the supply-demand balance changed, they added.

An official with an advisory firm that serves some of the battery firms said the suspension was seen as “window guidance”, and new approvals would be granted if additional manufacturing capacity was needed. Window guidance is used by Chinese authorities to deliver verbal or written instructions to companies or local authorities on government policies. This form of guidance is not officially announced or published and can be adjusted swiftly.

Southeast Asian countries bought $20 billion of Chinese clean-energy products so far this year, up 50% from a year earlier, reports Caixin. This comes as rising power demand in the region coincided with shifting global trade flows.

According to energy think tank Ember, ASEAN imports of Chinese energy-storage batteries reached nearly $7 billion, while electric-vehicle imports totaled about $6.3 billion. Grid equipment and heating and cooling systems accounted for about $1.6 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively. Solar products posted the fastest growth, with solar-module imports rising nearly 90% from a year earlier to $4.1 billion. The Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam were the largest buyers, with spending on solar modules nearly doubling from the same period in 2025.

Demand has been supported by rapid industrialization, expanding manufacturing activity and a surge in data-center construction, all of which are lifting electricity consumption and prompting greater investment in power grids across ASEAN. The bloc has a population of about 700 million and an economy approaching $4 trillion.

Chinese regulators are moving to stabilize the country’s solar sector, reports Caixin. They are rolling out a series of policies aimed at curbing the ongoing price war and pushing inefficient producers out of the market.

The coordinated measures—including tighter energy-consumption limits and unified cost-accounting standards—are intended to give regulators a technical basis for policing below-cost sales. 

The shift signals a change in official priorities, from expanding capacity to imposing market discipline in an industry where chronic oversupply has driven polysilicon prices below average production costs and weighed on domestic solar shares.

China’s wind power sector saw a sharp jump in procurement in July, reports Caixin. This is fueled by a new wave of state-backed mega-projects and the rollout of an ambitious new five-year renewable energy plan.

Public bidding records showed 55 new wind-turbine procurement tenders totaling 23,188.45 megawatts, up 219% from June and 50% from a year earlier. China’s Wind Power Capacity Index, developed by Caixin Data and Jiefeng Data with January 2018 set as a baseline of 100, rose to 140 in July. 

The increase was driven largely by 13 projects with planned capacity of more than 500 megawatts each. Most of the large-scale installations were concentrated in northern and western China, including Xinjiang, Jilin and Inner Mongolia. Major state-owned power producers, including State Power Investment, China Huaneng Group and Beijing Jingneng Power, were among the main buyers.

Overseas orders for Chinese energy storage systems surged in the first half of 2026, reports Caixin. This was driven by robust demand in Europe even as escalating trade barriers effectively shut Chinese firms out of the North American market.

The stark regional divergence underscores how geopolitical fractures and mounting protectionism are rapidly reshaping the global supply chain for critical renewable energy infrastructure.

Chinese companies secured 298 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of overseas energy storage contracts in the first six months of the year, an 83% increase from a year earlier, according to data released Thursday by the Zhongguancun Energy Storage Industry Technology Alliance. Europe remained the dominant market, accounting for nearly 120 GWh, or more than a third of the total.