LONGi is one of the largest energy companies on Earth, operating at the center of the fastest-expanding source of energy generation: solar power. The manufacturer continues to deliver among the market’s most efficient solar modules, including a back-contact unit exceeding 25% efficiency.
Now, the company is expanding heavily into energy storage through its LONGi ONE strategy. Its pitch—“One Platform, One Responsibility”—speaks directly to the evolving reality of the transition: solar needs batteries.
Year 2026 marks the first full turn in LONGi’s transition into a combined solar-plus-storage provider. The strategy isn’t merely about bundling hardware; it aims to deliver holistic, full-stack solutions directly to the customer.
A LONGi representative told pv magazine USA, “That’s the mountain we’re climbing. We want to build our own capabilities to be able to support the wide range of demand in different regions.”
The company is getting into batteries because, as we all know, the sun sets. However, it is also because LONGi, and the industry as a whole, has been wildly successful.
With LONGi as often the world’s largest solar panel maker, the industry has managed to saturate some of the world’s largest countries with massive volumes of well priced, clean daytime electricity. This has led to negatively priced electricity becoming a growing global challenge, with batteries as its solution.
As part of this rollout, the company recently announced the launch of its LONGi ONE solution in Egypt. The move aligns with its broader “2830 Plan”—an initiative targeting 30 localized “Centers of Excellence” globally by 2028 to handle battery O&M, technical support, and general communications.
The corporate transition reflects a broader shift across the clean energy sector. Moving from pure-play solar module manufacturing into hydrogen and energy storage gives manufacturers direct, ground-level involvement in the power grid’s broader transformation.
In late 2025, LONGi adapted its supply chain by acquiring PotisEdge. The move secured 31 GWh of energy storage manufacturing capacity alongside its existing 60 GW back-contact module production capacity. LONGi’s storage portfolio now spans the OneBank 3.0, OneMatrix Solution, Hi-MO ONE Pro, and OneOS, as well as the newly introduced OneNexus microgrid solution and OneSync PCS.
This shift comes during a period of pronounced market volatility. While solar has achieved cost parity as the cheapest electricity source, the past few years have brought distinct market challenges. Rapidly shifting policies, trade dynamics, and market saturation have required manufacturers to adapt their business plans quickly.
A representative told pv magazine USA, “Things were not quite as what people expected, and you have to adapt. Throw out your plan and adapt to changes.”
Deploying solar paired with energy storage presents vastly different operational requirements than selling standalone modules. While solar panels predictably convert daytime photons into grid current, storage systems require millisecond-level management around the clock.
Solar panels remain a largely standardized product, whereas energy storage demands tailored solutions adapted to regional policy environments, requiring localized software and service layers.
PotisEdge, founded in 2015, brought full-stack R&D capabilities across five core system technologies to LONGi: integrated Centralized Cell Safety Monitoring/Management (iCCS), Battery Management Systems (BMS), Power Conversion Systems (PCS), Energy Management Systems (EMS), and Thermal Management Systems (TMS)—backed by nearly 420 patents.
All of these systems require nuanced, regional programming attention—the primary driver behind the 2830 Plan.
Integrating storage solves a major pain point for developers facing unclear revenue models. Beyond basic hardware, modern full-stack platforms must provide software to manage charge/discharge cycles, navigate spot-market trading, and optimize revenue across fluctuating daily and seasonal tariff structures.
Batteries and control systems create clarity. The LONGi representative said: “We can help you in managing your system. When do you charge your battery? When do you discharge your battery to get some revenue? How do you trade the energy on the spot market to get additional revenue, and how do you optimize your revenue model in different hours of the day or different seasons?
They continued, “We think of (solar and storage) as not just two hardware systems working together, but as new and better, more coherent, and more efficient systems.”
For LONGi, the work spans multiple horizons: scaling energy storage management, navigating broader industry volatility, and preparing for next-generation solar tech like perovskites.
Commercial progress is already underway. Developer RWE recently announced an Italian project utilizing 300 MWh of LONGi’s OneBank (6.25 MWh) storage product paired with LONGi solar panels—a project where the battery capacity took center stage.
And, tellingly, the capacity of solar panels isn’t mentioned at all.
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