Is Energy Storage the Next Goldmine for China’s Solar Giant, Jinko Solar?

The majority of China’s large solar module and cell manufacturers — including JinkoSolar — are currently challenged by domestic oversupply, falling product prices, shrinking margins, and growing trade restrictions in key global markets. Together, these pressures have severely impacted their financial performance, pushing many into losses.

JinkoSolar, which is heavily dependent on overseas exports for revenue, continues to incur losses despite substantial global shipments of modules, cells, wafers, and other solar components. However, the company says there are early signs of recovery. It reported that compared to a gross loss of 2.5% in Q1 2025, it achieved a gross profit margin of 2.99% in Q2, which further improved to 7.3% in Q3.

According to the company’s top management, JinkoSolar shipped around 20 GW of solar modules and 1.55 GW of cells and wafers during Q3. For the first nine months of FY25, total shipments reached 61.9 GW. The company claims this milestone positioned it as the global leader in total module shipments. JinkoSolar now aims for full-year shipments in the range of 85–100 GW across modules, cells, and wafers.

Despite its massive production scale, sales volume, and strong export markets, the company continues to struggle financially. Yet, it now sees a new growth opportunity in its rapidly expanding Energy Storage Systems (ESS) business — a segment witnessing strong global demand.

Why ESS Matters More for Jinko Now

As solar-plus-storage projects rise globally to address the intermittency of renewable sources, the Chinese solar giant believes BESS can become a major contributor to its turnaround. The company is gaining momentum in battery pack and cell manufacturing and has sharply increased its energy storage exports, with 80% of its systems being shipped overseas. JinkoSolar has labelled BESS its “second growth engine,” expected to strengthen profits and drive a path back to profitability.

“We are pleased to see that our intensive efforts devoted to R&D for the energy storage business in the past two years have started to bear fruit gradually. In the first three quarters, our cumulative ESS shipments exceeded 3.3 GWh, representing significant growth since the second quarter. This, combined with our rising market share in overseas markets, has helped the profitability of our energy storage business to improve noticeably. With scale efficiency and competitiveness improving, we expect our energy storage business to become our second growth engine and contribute to our profit in 2026,” said Xiande Li, JinkoSolar's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Li believes China’s favourable battery economics give JinkoSolar an advantage to scale its ESS business globally, especially with rising storage demand in Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and the United States.

“In China, market-oriented reforms are improving the economics of many energy storage projects while demand is increasing in Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Latin America because of improving economics and the global energy transition. In the U.S, the rapid expansion of AI data centers is straining domestic electricity supply, making solar+storage a safe and easy-to-deploy solution,” he added.

Li further noted that surging global demand for energy storage validates the company’s strategy to build a long-term competitive position in localized, one-stop solar-plus-storage solutions. JinkoSolar believes its strong brand presence, established channels, and existing customer relationships will accelerate growth in this new business.

JinkoSolar’s ESS Portfolio

JinkoSolar currently has 12 GWh of battery pack capacity and 5 GWh of battery cell capacity. It shipped 3.3 GWh of energy storage systems in the first three quarters of 2025 and aims to reach around 6 GWh in shipments for the full year.

The company says it has already secured 90% of its ESS orders for 2025, with 80% of those coming from overseas — particularly in the utility-scale and commercial & industrial (C&I) sectors.

Examples of projects include:

• 123.8 MWh ESS deployed at Athens Airport, set to become the world’s largest solar-plus-ESS self-consumption aviation hub.

• A strategic partnership withMetlen Group to support energy transition efforts in Chile and Europe with a commitment to 3 GWh of ESS solutions.

• 21.6 MWh ESS commissioned in a distributed energy infrastructure in Massachusetts in July 2025.

A Growing Trend Among Chinese Solar Manufacturers

JinkoSolar isn’t alone. Several major Chinese manufacturers of solar modules, cells, and wafers are now expanding into energy storage to hedge against volatility in their core solar business. For example, LONGi recently acquired BESS manufacturer PotisEdge in November amid declining solar equipment prices and tougher global trade restrictions. A third major, Trina Solar has had a storage division (Trina Storage )  for some time that has helped offset pressure on the modules business.

Energy storage currently faces fewer export barriers than solar modules and cells in many regions — offering Chinese companies access to broader international markets. China’s cost advantages, dominance in lithium raw material supply chains, and deep manufacturing expertise make its firms well-positioned to capture a growing share of global ESS demand.