CATL has launched a new Energy Storage Validation Laboratory (ESVL) focused on large-scale battery storage testing
The facility includes specialized laboratories for electromagnetic compatibility and high-voltage safety testing, among others
It collaborates with leading certification bodies, including TÜV SÜD, TÜV Rheinland, CGC, and CSA
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), the China-headquartered battery giant, has opened an RMB 3 billion ($440 million) testing and validation platform for energy storage systems (ESS), calling it the world’s largest testbed for ESS.
The Xiamen Energy Storage Validation Research Institute (ESVL), open to the global energy storage industry, is designed as a testbed for validating ESS under the most demanding grid operating conditions. CATL says at ESVL, testing moves beyond component-level to full-system and station-level verification. It covers safety, grid-support capability, and long-term reliability before deployment.
The laboratory collaborates with leading certification bodies, including TÜV SÜD, TÜV Rheinland, CGC, and CSA, to offer one-test, multi-witness, globally recognized services, it adds.
“Scientific rigor is more critical than ever as energy storage enters the gigawatt era,” said Dr. Wu Kai, Chief Scientist of CATL. “ESVL is designed to reflect that rigor, and to help usher in a more trusted and sustainable era of real-world validation.”
In 2025, the global deployment of energy storage exceeded 100 GW of annual additions for the first time, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BloombergNEF). Excluding pumped hydro, annual energy storage additions reached 112 GW last year, up 48% from the previous year, with 307 GWh of battery capacity added globally. CATL’s energy storage battery sales alone reached 121 GWh in 2025.
BloombergNEF says it took only 4 years for energy storage to increase annual additions from 10 GW to more than 100 GW. In 2026, it expects global energy storage annual additions, excluding pumped hydro, to reach 158 GW, reaching annual additions of 308 GW in 2036 thanks to falling costs, greater renewable energy penetration, data centers, and electric vehicle (EV) charging.
CATL’s Kai emphasized that in this rapidly expanding battery storage market, the need of the hour for battery manufacturers is to be honest about equipment performance, respect grid dynamics, and be disciplined in testing results. This will help raise industry quality standards for the pre-delivery stage.
The ESVL houses 5 innovative laboratories, each addressing ESS validation at various levels:
Grid integration laboratory, the world’s ‘first’ at the station level, is equipped with a 35 kV/100 MVA grid simulator and a real-time simulator that can test more than 10 large-scale energy storage containers at the same time. It is 14 times larger than NREL’s 13.8kV/7MVA platform.
High-Voltage Safety Laboratory covers 1kV to 500 kV to investigate the underlying mechanisms of fire and explosion under extreme high-voltage conditions. It can help guide equipment design toward preventing these catastrophes.
The Thermal Safety and Combustion Laboratory, with 100,000 cubic meters of indoor combustion space, is the world’s first large indoor combustion facility equipped with a 20 MW calorimeter. It can conduct explosion testing on 9 large energy storage containers simultaneously, providing critical data to assess safety spacing, deployment planning, and system iteration.
The Environment Reliability Laboratory can validate long-term performance under desert heat, high-altitude low pressure, coastal salt spray, and other harsh environments by exposing full-system ESS containers under extreme conditions ranging from -50°C to 100°C and simulated high-altitude pressure environments up to 7,200 meters.
The Electromagnetic Compatibility Laboratory, claims CATL, is the world’s only facility capable of accommodating a full 40-foot container, and performing EMC testing in an anechoic chamber under real high-power charge and discharge conditions. It can identify electromagnetic interference risks before deployment.
“As energy storage increasingly becomes a critical infrastructure asset, ESVL's independent, traceable real-world validated data can help regulators make evidence-based decisions, insurers price risk more precisely and financial institutions assess energy storage as a more credible, bankable asset,” added ESVL Head, Dr. Chen Xiaobo.