By zhanqun1 
Abstract:
In 2025, the focus of the energy storage inverter (PCS) market will shift from “price wars” to a dual drive of “technology + application scenarios,” with five core sectors emerging as new industry hotspots.
2025: Energy Storage Inverters Enter a New Era of Multi-Dimensional Competition
“In 2025, the energy storage market landscape will undergo profound changes.”
According to the latest forecast by GGII, the domestic energy storage inverter (PCS) market will continue to maintain high growth in 2025, but the market dynamics have quietly changed. As the scale of energy storage systems continues to expand, higher demands are being placed on the performance, adaptability, and intelligent operation and maintenance capabilities of PCS. The focus of PCS market competition is shifting from single price and performance indicators to multi-dimensional technological breakthroughs and scenario adaptability.
GGII data shows that in 2024, domestic power storage PCS shipments reached 80GW, a year-on-year increase of 112%. Overseas market demand is also continuing to explode, with shipments reaching 11GW in 2024, accounting for 13.7%. This trend is expected to continue in 2025, with overseas market orders mainly concentrated in North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, and European and American orders expected to account for over 80%.
Domestic Market: Continued Price Competition Necessitates Technological Upgrades
The domestic market still faces issues of “price competition.” In 2024, centralized PCS bid prices ranged from 0.0614 to 0.0927 yuan/W, with an average price of 0.078 yuan/W; string PCS bid prices ranged from 0.1078 to 0.122 yuan/W, with an average price of 0.114 yuan/W.
Although centralized solutions dominate the market with a 95% share due to low investment costs and convenient operation and maintenance, in the GWh era, the “barrel effect” of centralized solutions is gradually emerging, leading to issues such as parallel circulating currents becoming prominent. The market penetration rate of string 215kW solutions is rapidly increasing.
Price competition is unsustainable; technological innovation is key to breaking through.
Overseas Market: Multi-Point Deployment and High Added Value Drive Growth
Overseas markets impose higher requirements on PCS companies. Certification standards such as UL and IEC, along with local warranty requirements, create technical and service barriers. However, overseas markets generally have gross profit margins that are more than 30% higher than domestic ones, which strongly attracts companies with technological advantages and overseas service capabilities.
By obtaining UL and CE certifications and designing corrosion-resistant enclosures tailored to overseas markets, domestic companies are gradually achieving deep penetration into markets in North America, the Middle East, and Europe, with overseas orders blossoming in multiple locations.
Overseas markets have become a new growth area for PCS companies, while also increasing the complexity of market competition.
Five New Tracks: Comprehensive Advancement of Technological Innovation and Scenario Adaptation
In 2025, competition in the energy storage PCS industry will revolve around the following five new tracks, with these technological and scenario breakthroughs becoming key for companies to compete in the market.
Accelerated Penetration of SiC (Silicon Carbide)
SiC power modules, with switching frequencies breaking through hundreds of kHz and switching losses reduced by 70%-80%, significantly enhance PCS conversion efficiency. Domestic SiC modules have achieved cost parity with imported IGBTs through mass production. Combined with reduced system size and cooling requirements, the overall lifecycle cost is further decreased, and market share is expected to see substantial growth in 2025.
Grid-Forming PCS Becomes a Market Favorite
Grid-forming PCS, featuring black start, grid support, frequency regulation, and voltage regulation functions, has become an important direction for future energy storage technology development. Leading companies such as Sungrow, NARI Technology, and Kehua Tech have established grid-forming PCS as a core technological moat. The technical complexity allows grid-forming PCS to command a 10%-15% premium, and market share is expected to further increase in 2025. Notably, grid-forming energy storage PCS bidding often requires integration performance of 100 MWh systems, further raising industry competition thresholds.
Modular PCS Promotes Multi-Scenario Implementation
Modular PCS offers “building block” power expansion capabilities, suitable for diverse scenarios ranging from commercial and industrial applications to large-scale storage on the generation and grid sides. By reducing battery inconsistency issues through cluster-level management, system efficiency is further improved. In 2025, modular PCS solutions represented by string 215kW are expected to further increase penetration, potentially capturing over 30% of the domestic market share.
Long-Duration Energy Storage PCS Seizes Development Opportunities
With the rapid growth in demand for long-duration energy storage, megawatt-scale PCS is gradually becoming the preferred choice for such projects. PCS supporting new energy storage technologies like flow batteries and solid-state batteries are emerging, and over the next 3-5 years, these PCS are expected to occupy an important position in long-duration energy storage projects.
AI+PCS: Intelligent Operation and Maintenance Becomes a Core Advantage
The integration of AI and PCS is driving energy storage operation and maintenance into the intelligent era. By optimizing charging and discharging strategies, fault prediction, and lifespan forecasting through AI, companies can reduce operation and maintenance costs and provide better resource aggregation capabilities for virtual power plants (VPP). In the future, AI combined with massive experimental data and actual power station operation data will form precise health assessment models, bringing continuous competitive advantages to PCS companies.
Conclusion: Technological Differentiation and Ecological Collaboration Become the Main Theme of Future Competition
As the global energy storage market continues to expand, competition in the energy storage PCS industry has entered a stage of “technological differentiation + ecological collaboration.” SiC and grid-forming technologies establish performance barriers