Securing the Future of American Battery Storage

LG Energy Solution and Qcells secure a massive 5 GWh battery deal to fortify the domestic supply chain through 2030

5 May 2026

LG Energy Solution Vertech and Qcells signed a 5 gigawatt-hour battery storage supply agreement on February 5, establishing one of the most consequential domestic clean energy deals of the year. Cells will be made at LG Energy Solution facilities in Michigan and Arizona, then paired with solar modules from Qcells' plant in Georgia.

The deal builds on an earlier 4.8 GWh agreement struck in May 2024. Repeat business at this scale suggests a deepening strategic relationship rather than routine procurement, covering project deployments from 2028 to 2030.

US battery storage installations exceeded 35 gigawatt-hours in the first nine months of 2025 alone, surpassing the full-year total for the prior period, according to Wood Mackenzie and the American Clean Power Association. Demand from power grids, artificial intelligence data centres, and renewable integration is rising sharply.

In this environment, supply chain certainty has become as valuable as the batteries themselves.

Qcells, a subsidiary of South Korea's Hanwha Solutions, operates one of the largest solar panel manufacturing networks in the United States. Combined with LG Energy Solution Vertech's full-system integration, lifecycle services, and proprietary software, the partnership gives project developers access to a domestic provider able to supply a complete build from solar module to stored megawatt-hour.

Both companies have chosen lithium iron phosphate chemistry, known for its thermal stability, long cycle life, and lower cost relative to nickel-cobalt alternatives. Domestic production of these cells also helps projects qualify under US clean energy incentive rules, which impose domestic content requirements that shape overall project economics.

How far such paired agreements become standard practice in large-scale grid development will depend in part on whether incentive frameworks remain intact, and whether domestic manufacturing capacity can keep pace with accelerating demand.