On 10 June 2021, the 29th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress passed the Hainan Free Trade Port Law of the People's Republic of China, which determined to establish and improve the Hainan Free Trade Port customs supervision special zone system with closed-off customs operations on the entire island.
China already has 22 free trade zones (FTZs), but Hainan represents a fundamentally different level of openness. Most FTZs are limited to specific urban areas and focus on upgrading local industries. Hainan has transformed an entire island into a unified free trade port, with its own customs, tax and regulatory system.
On 5 January 2024, the inspection area for railway freight trains at Huairou South railway station —the first railway customs clearance project of the Hainan Free Trade Port, built by the China Railway 25th Bureau Group—was completed.
The "Notice on Preferential Corporate Income Tax Policies for Hainan Free Trade Port" proposed that enterprises in encouraged industries registered and operated in Hainan Free Trade Port shall be subject to a reduced corporate income tax rate of 15%.
While this definition could enable several use cases, in practice most community energy storage projects feature direct utility ownership and control; they are not community owned. However, other models are emerging that tie the asset more directly to the community.
An expansion of community energy storage will not necessarily lead to more equitable outcomes. Greater regulatory and financial support will be needed for these assets to be accessible to underrepresented communities. The “community” of community energy storage as a business model is broadly defined.
The community solar + storage project allows customers to buy electricity for a lower rate than the utility, while providing more valuable generation to the grid. Energy storage can also be installed in campuses or multifamily buildings and shared among the tenants.
As previously mentioned, most community energy storage projects in the United States are distribution sited and utility owned. The community indirectly benefits from cost-effective investments that reduce system costs. There is also the potential for distribution sited storage systems to improve local reliability and resiliency.
Without running AC or electric heat, a 10 kWh battery alone can power the critical electrical systems in an average house for at least 24 hours, and longer with careful budgeting.
Capacity — the amount of energy a battery can store — is one of the main features that influence how long a battery can power a house during a power outage. Battery capacity is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh) and can vary from as little as 1 kWh to 18 kWh.
Whole home backup is possible, but it takes a large solar system with around 30 kWh of battery storage. Let's run through an example scenario of powering essential systems during a 24-hour power outage to get an idea of how much solar and battery capacity you'll need.
If you're researching solar batteries, you probably want to know how much of your house you can power and for how long. The short answer? A typical 13 kWh battery (the size of a Tesla Powerwall 3) can keep your refrigerator, lights, WiFi, phone chargers, and TV running for nearly a full day.
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