SMM on China BESS: Can Growth Hold Up as Costs Rise?

SMM analyst Lana Li joins Matt Fernley on Rock Stock Channel to discuss the outlook for China’s BESS and energy storage market, including battery pricing, lithium cost pass-through, project IRRs, policy changes and the shift from mandatory storage to market-based returns.

We also cover China’s BESS slowdown, global demand growth, export pressures, inventory, sodium-ion batteries and SMM’s outlook for roughly 30% global BESS demand CAGR through 2030.

Read Interview Transcript:https://link.rkequity.com/smm-transcript

Follow Participants:X (SMM) - https://x.com/CnMetalsX (Matt) - https://x.com/matt_fernley

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Chapters

(00:00) Introductions(02:27) China Resets BESS Pricing Discipline(07:01) China Shifts To Economics-Driven Storage(12:19) Lithium Surge Barely Reaches BESS Prices(15:23) Why China BESS Installations Slowed(20:22) Residential Inventories Mask Tight Cell Supply(23:03) SMM's BESS Forecasting Methodology(24:11) Global BESS Growth Diversifies Beyond China(26:01) Higher Costs Threaten BESS Growth Forecasts(27:51) Sodium-Ion Remains Too Expensive(30:18) Sustainable Returns Become The Real Constraint

Links

Sign up for the Lithium-Ion Bull newsletter / Matt’s blogs:https://rkequity.com/

Questions:rockstockchannel@rkequity.com

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Podcast  Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lithium-ion-rocks/id1457969172Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0KiMIZOPaDg8ENfPJMSINq