Battery storage ramps up

As Namibia expands its push into energy storage to support rising renewable electricity production, global supply chains are experiencing unprecedented growth.

International renewable energy and technology consultancy InfoLink Consulting, in its latest Global Energy Storage Supply Chain Database release, reports that worldwide energy storage cell shipments reached 205.52 GWh in the first quarter of 2026.

That represents a 98.7% increase compared with the same period last year and a 1.62% rise from the previous quarter, according to Green Building Africa.

The publication says strong demand from utility-scale and residential energy storage systems has driven the surge, reinforcing expectations of continued sector growth.

Competition within the industry is also intensifying, with market concentration easing as new entrants expand capacity. The top 10 manufacturers now account for 85.2% of global shipments, InfoLink said.

Leading suppliers in the quarter included CATL, Hithium, EVE Energy, BYD and CALB, which together accounted for nearly 60% of global shipments. Cornex also entered the top tier as manufacturers continue to expand production.

Utility-scale storage dominated the market, with shipments reaching 178.27 GWh, an 84.54% year-on-year increase. Battery cells above 500Ah are also gaining traction, reaching around 5% market penetration, with forecasts suggesting this could rise to 20% by the end of the year.

Residential and small-scale systems recorded even faster growth, rising to 27.25 GWh in Q1 2026, up about 299% year on year.

Development phase

In Namibia, energy storage remains in an early development phase as the country scales up solar and wind generation.

A study titled Technologies in renewable energy: A case study of Namibia, published on ScienceDirect by Ditiro Setlhaolo and Ehab Bayoumi, notes that a key constraint is the intermittency of renewable power and the limitations of current storage technologies.

“A critical technical barrier to scaling deployment is the inherent limitation of current energy storage systems, which struggle to reconcile the intermittent nature of solar and wind power with consistent grid demand,” the paper states.

It adds that while storage systems provide partial mitigation, they remain constrained by cost, duration limits and scalability challenges.

Despite this, Namibia’s state utility NamPower is advancing several major projects.

The Omburu Battery Energy Storage System near Omaruru, valued at nearly N$400 million, will deliver 51MW/51MWh of lithium iron phosphate storage capacity. The German development bank KfW is supporting the project, which is linked to NamPower’s adjacent 20MW Omburu solar plant.

NamPower is also developing the Lithops BESS project north of Swakopmund, a 45MW/90MWh facility with funding support from the World Bank.

In the private sector, ANIREP is planning a 3MW/10MWh battery system for grid support and frequency regulation at its solar plant near Otjiwarongo.

Meanwhile, Cleanergy Solutions Namibia is integrating lithium phosphate storage systems of up to 5.9MWh at its facility outside Walvis Bay to support continuous solar-powered hydrogen electrolysis operations.