As China accelerates its dual-carbon goals and integrates a growing share of renewables into the grid, grid-forming energy storage has emerged as a critical solution to bridge the gap between intermittent clean energy sources and grid stability. On the policy front, the National Development and Reform Commission’s Action Plan for Building a New Power System (2024–2027) explicitly calls for the advancement of grid-forming technologies. Meanwhile, national standards such as the General Technical Specifications for Grid-Forming Converters are being fast-tracked for implementation.
Zhiguang Energy Storage has taken a pioneering leap in this field. Its independently developed 35kV High-Capacity Grid-Forming Cascaded High-Voltage Energy Storage System sets a new benchmark for the industry with its innovative topology and outstanding performance. This breakthrough solution not only delivers key technological support for building next-generation power systems, but was also prominently showcased at the ESIE 2025 Energy Storage Summit, where Zhiguang’s Technical Director Tang Xu presented an in-depth technical briefing outlining the system's core innovations and wide-ranging applications—highlighting the company’s leadership in grid-forming, high-voltage, and large-scale energy storage.
Zhiguang's 35kV high-voltage direct-connect energy storage system adopts a cascaded topology, in which multiple battery clusters are directly connected and stepped up to 35kV—eliminating the need for traditional step-up transformers and significantly reducing system losses. Key features of this technology include:
? Efficiency & Cost-Effectiveness: By removing the transformer, system losses are cut by 6–10%. Multilevel cascade design minimizes harmonic interference, pushing round-trip efficiency above 92%—well above the 85% threshold of traditional liquid-cooled systems.
? Breakthrough in Safety: The system adopts a no-parallel battery cluster design, eliminating the risk of circulating currents. Coupled with full lifecycle battery management, it ensures real-time cell balancing and fault warnings, reducing the risk of thermal runaway to the lowest level in the industry.
? Exceptional Grid-Forming Capability: Zhiguang is the first to introduce self-synchronizing voltage source control, enabling autonomous inertia response and robust operation under wide short-circuit ratios. The system can provide instantaneous reactive voltage support during grid disturbances—offering a viable solution for stability issues caused by the high penetration of power electronics and renewable fluctuations.
Scaled Deployments Across Diverse Scenarios
Zhiguang’s system has already been widely deployed across various high-impact use cases:
? User-Side Benchmark: The 91.5MW/366MWh system deployed at the Inner Mongolia Chuangyuan Alloys project is the largest user-side grid-forming storage system in China. It efficiently addresses the dual challenges of high energy consumption and peak shaving for the aluminum smelting industry.
? Grid-Side Frequency Regulation: The 150MW/600MWh plant in Hainan Prefecture, Qinghai—located at the highest elevation for any cascaded HV storage plant globally—provides millisecond-level frequency response and boosts system efficiency by 6–10%.
? Renewable Energy Integration: The Guazhou Wind Farm project in Gansu is the world's first grid-forming energy storage system serving as a primary power source, enabling power smoothing, black start capability for 330kV systems, and islanded operation.
Zhiguang’s technological advancements are now shaping national standards. Its cascaded high-voltage storage system was selected for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s (MIIT) Recommended Catalog for Energy-Saving and Carbon-Reduction Technologies, and its 35kV self-synchronizing voltage source system earned First Prize in the 2024 MIIT National Advanced Energy Storage Technology Innovation Challenge—signifying strong national-level validation.
Notably, during ESIE 2025, Zhiguang Energy Storage was also named among the Top 10 Energy Storage System Integrators (Domestic User-Side Market), underscoring its leadership in advancing high-voltage, intelligent, and scalable storage technologies.
Toward a Smarter, More Resilient Energy Future
As power systems grow increasingly complex, grid-forming storage is becoming the “ballast” for grid stability. Zhiguang is unlocking new value across the full lifecycle of energy storage and delivering replicable, scalable solutions for global energy transitions—redefining what’s possible in the age of intelligent power.
