Interview

Hoenergy Shifts European Strategy to C&I Storage, Targets Geographic Proximity

Julia Z. Pohl, Director Research Operations at EUPD Group, speaks with Zene Shi, Overseas Sales Director at Hoenergy, at The smarter E Europe 2026. They discuss the evolving European energy storage market, highlighting the shift from residential to C&I and market-driven economics, and Hoenergy's strategic focus within this landscape.

Interviewer · EUPD Group
Julia Z. Pohl
Director Research Operations · EUPD Group
Guest · Hoenergy
Zene Shi
Overseas Sales Director · Hoenergy
Filmed ·Runtime 06:56Interview ·
Interview
The smarter E Europe 2026 · Munich
06:56
Filmed on site · No editorial direction beyond question set · Captions auto-generated, reviewed by EUPD Group

Key takeaways

4 points · 06:56 video
  1. European Market Dynamics Shift
    The European energy storage market is moving from residential dominance to rapid growth in C&I and utility segments. Policy-driven incentives are being supplanted by economic returns and market forces.
  2. Hoenergy's C&I Specialization
    Hoenergy strategically focuses on the commercial and industrial (C&I) energy storage segment in Europe. This focus leverages their experience as a top-five C&I supplier in China.
  3. Strategy for European Growth
    Hoenergy's European strategy is summarized by "closer, deeper, and more stable" engagement. This involves improving geographic proximity to clients and adapting services to diverse application scenarios.
  4. Enhanced Client Support
    To achieve closer client relationships, Hoenergy plans to establish a warehouse and support hub in Rotterdam, Netherlands. They aim for rapid responses, including 72-hour technical proposals and 32-hour service responses.

The Evolving European Energy Storage Landscape

Zene Shi, Overseas Sales Director at Hoenergy, observes a significant shift in the European energy storage market. Historically dominated by residential systems, there is now rapid growth in medium and industrial (C&I) energy storage, which has become a mainstream segment. Shi notes that the market is transitioning from being policy-driven to increasingly influenced by economics and returns. This indicates a maturation where market forces and profitability are now key drivers for development and adoption.

"In the past, residential energy storage dominated the European energy storage. But today, more and more medium and industrial energy storage are also growing fast and have become mainstream." Shi · 00:48

Hoenergy's Strategic Focus on C&I Storage

Hoenergy positions itself clearly in the commercial and industrial (C&I) energy storage segment, according to Shi. He explains that while utility-scale storage sees fierce competition from many Chinese manufacturers, the C&I market offers significant growth without the same level of saturation for new entrants. Hoenergy leverages its established expertise, having achieved one gigawatt-hour manufacturing shipment in China and ranking as a top-five C&I energy storage supplier there. This background provides an ideal foundation for participation and growth in the European C&I market.

"For Hoenergy, we are a medium size energy storage manufacturer who already gained one gigawatt hour manufacturing shipment in the Chinese market, and we are a top five commercial and energy storage supplier in China." Shi · 02:43

Expanding European Presence with Client-Centric Strategy

Hoenergy's future strategy in Europe is summarized by three pillars: "closer, deeper, and more stable" engagement, states Shi. To be "closer" to clients, the company plans to establish a warehouse and support hub in Rotterdam, Netherlands, enhancing service accessibility. This includes commitments to rapid response times, such as delivering technical proposals and commercial offers within 72 hours and service responses within 32 hours. The "deeper" approach involves tailoring services to the fragmented and scenario-dependent nature of C&I applications across different European regions.

"We will set up our own warehouse and support hub in Rotterdam, Netherlands." Shi · 04:15

Chapters

Chapters · click to jump
00:08
Introduction and Market Overview
Julia Pohl from EUPD Group introduces Zene Shi from Hoenergy, setting the stage for a discussion on the European energy storage market.
00:39
Shifting European Market Dynamics
Zene Shi details the transition in the European energy storage market from residential dominance to C&I growth, driven by economic returns rather than policy.
02:02
Hoenergy's C&I Market Positioning
Shi explains Hoenergy's strategic focus on the C&I segment in Europe, leveraging its significant experience and market position in China.
03:08
Three-Pillar European Growth Strategy
Hoenergy's overseas sales director outlines the company's "closer, deeper, and more stable" strategy for expanding its presence in the European market.
05:57
Enhancing Client Service and Brand Awareness
Shi elaborates on specific plans, including establishing a European warehouse and support hub, rapid response times, and co-marketing to build brand recognition and leverage software value.

Interview transcript

Auto-generated · reviewed · ~3 min read
Hi everybody, I'm Julia from the EUPD Group, and I'm welcoming you from the first day of The smarter E Europe in 2026. And it's my great pleasure to be joined by Zene Shi, the overseas sales director from Hoenergy. Welcome, Zene. Hello. Hi. Hello. Good to have you here. I need to change this. Okay. So we want to talk a little bit about the battery and energy storage market in Europe. As a manufacturer, it would be super interesting to hear your perspective on the current market developments in Europe. What's your take on that? Yeah, from my point of view, I think there are several key dimensions we can show about. The first one, I think about the market segmentation. In the past, residential energy storage dominated the European energy storage. But today, more and more medium and industrial energy storage are becoming also growing fast and have become one of the mainstream. The other part is, in the past, energy storage is more likely to be policy driving, but today the economics and returns become more and important. So, we can see market driving is also become a new trend of this market. Interesting. Yeah. I think we can see also that we've moved sort of from a very new technology to a sort of commodity market, and given that we're moving into this commodity stage, especially also for the larger system slowly now, how is Hoenergy positioning itself in that segment? What is the added value that you bring with your products and services to the European market? I think for this kind of, when talking about this positioning, it's quite clear for Hoenergy that we are very close, clear, and focused on the commercial and industrial energy segment. Because nowadays, like utility scale energy storage, a lot of China manufacturer are competing inside it. It's quite fierce. And for commercial and industrial energy storage, it's a market with a good market size as well, and is faster growing. But those China manufacturer cannot be fully involved in because it's kind of a lot of prohibitive cost. And for small players, they are not so easy to complete effective insight. For Hoenergy, we are a medium size energy storage manufacturer who already gained one gigawatt hour manufacturing shipment in Chinese market, and we are top five commercial and energy storage supplier in China. So in case it's the ideal background for Hoenergy to be participating in. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think it's very interesting to also make sure that no segment gets left behind, right? Mm-hmm. As you said, we moved from residential more towards C&I applications, and now a lot of focus, as you said, is towards utility, but still the C&I segment needs to be catered to. Yeah. Ranging from the smaller commercial applications up to the larger industrial ones. And so you already mentioned a little bit of the focus that Hoenergy brings and the vision that you have for that segment from your perspective. So what's next for Hoenergy then? What are the plans? From our point of view, I think we will follow our strategy, positioning, as well our marketing strategy, and we will move forward. Firstly, I think we can use three words to summarize it: closer, deeper, and more stable. Talking about closer, we will be more closer on the geographic side to the clients. So we will make our surveys more accessible to our clients. Right. We will set up our own warehouse and support hub. And so warehouse hub in Rotterdam, Netherlands. And also we will have a quick response to our clients, like technical proposal as well as commercial offers, within around 72 hours. And we also will provide our service responding within around 32 hours. That's about closer. Deeper we will make our service, because you know commercial and industrial energy storage is kind of more fragmented- Right ... more scenario dependent- Yes ... and decentralized. So in that case, we want to make ourself more deeper and closer to different scenario of applications in different European regions. And the third part is about more stable. We will help our customer win, so that we can be mutual benefit on this market. We will provide them with this kind of competitive tier price, and we will provide a core marketing fund- Right ... so that we can do core exhibition on this market, promotion on the local European media together to brand our brand awareness, as well as product recognition. Yes. Yeah. I think that's very insightful and it's nice to see that you're watching these market developments so closely and reflect on the next steps for Hoenergy and for your portfolio, as well as the services towards the end customers. So that being said, I think I'll be very interested to hear next year how things are going and how these plans are being materialized. And thank you for joining us today, and I hope you have a successful trade fair this year. Thank you. And a lot of good energies and power for the days to come. Yes, thank you. And like our boss, Mr. Anson Feng mentioned, the greater value with software, that's also one of the very key point- Right ... to make this market recognize us, and make us a known player on this market. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Of course.
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Frequently asked questions

Zene Shi notes a transition from residential energy storage dominance to rapid growth in the commercial and industrial (C&I) sector [00:48]. He also highlights a fundamental shift from policy-driven market development to one increasingly influenced by economic returns and market dynamics [01:07].

According to Zene Shi, Hoenergy is strategically focused on the commercial and industrial (C&I) energy storage segment in Europe [01:56]. This allows them to avoid the fierce competition in utility-scale storage while leveraging their proven expertise as a top-five C&I supplier in China [02:06, 02:57].

Hoenergy plans to adopt a “closer, deeper, and more stable” strategy for European expansion, as outlined by Zene Shi [03:56]. This involves improving geographic proximity to clients and tailoring services to the fragmented C&I market [04:04, 04:52].

Zene Shi states that Hoenergy will establish a warehouse and support hub in Rotterdam, Netherlands, to be geographically closer to clients [04:15]. They commit to rapid responses, including 72-hour technical proposals and 32-hour service responses [04:32].

Zene Shi mentions that Hoenergy will engage in co-marketing efforts, including joint exhibitions and promotions in local European media [05:40]. They also aim to differentiate themselves through the “greater value with software,” as emphasized by their boss, Mr. Anson Feng [06:29].