This article was originally published on Climate & Capital Media.
Envision Energy unveils smarter wind turbines, a big push into energy storage, and its aims to decarbonize entire supply chains
The factory floor is spotless. Pristine even. From a viewing deck, we look out across a hangar-sized building. Rows of wind turbine hubs, the central units where blades will eventually attach, line the floor below, while robotic arms move with quiet efficiency overhead.
This is Envision Energy’s Jiangyin facility, a manufacturing base near the Yangtze River, that reflects how the company — and the sector — is evolving. Once known primarily for wind turbines, Envision is now positioning itself as a builder of integrated energy systems that combine generation, storage, and data to support industrial decarbonization at scale.
Envision describes itself as a “digital energy company” that has reportedly grown over the past decade to manage more than 1,000 gigawatts of energy assets globally, across both Envision-owned and third-party infrastructure. Founded in 2007 by its now billionaire CEO, Zhang Lei, the Shanghai-based, privately owned company has grown from a major wind turbine manufacturer into a sprawling green technology group spanning battery storage, green hydrogen, and so-called “green fuels.” It also owns the fastest electric car racing team in Formula E.
Much of the language surrounding the company — “beautiful energy,” “green utopia,” “net-zero partner,” “solving humanity’s sustainable future” — carries the polished optimism that until recently was common across corporate sustainability culture in the US. But inside Jiangyin, the scale of the operation suggests something more consequential than branding or rhetoric alone.
Moving mining from diesel to wind power
Back on the viewing platform, one detail immediately stands out. To one side of the vast space beneath us, finished units sit in containers, ready for shipment. One is marked with the logo of Fortescue, the Australian iron ore giant, which has set an ambitious target to eliminate fossil fuels from its mining operations by 2030.
Australian iron ore giant Fortescue’s partnership with Envision…will see wind turbines deployed in Australia’s Pilbara region to replace diesel-powered operations.
Part of what differentiates Envision’s technology is its AI-enabled operating system, which integrates weather forecasting and real-time data to optimize performance. This allows turbines to operate more efficiently in regions with highly variable wind conditions and to better withstand extreme environments, including those in the Pilbara, a cyclone-prone, remote mining region where temperatures regularly exceed 40°C.
Back on the factory floor, reflecting on the geopolitical upheaval currently taking place, I ask the Envision representative guiding us what role recent energy shocks, particularly in the Middle East, are playing in driving demand.
While she does not point to any single event as the cause, the response makes clear that demand for wind is already accelerating rapidly amid broader concerns around energy security. In recent years, she explains, the company has been signing orders measured in the tens of gigawatts — capacity comparable to the annual wind turbine buildout of entire countries, including the UK. In total, Envision now has a global footprint of more than 100 gigawatts of installed capacity since its founding, roughly 7%–8% of total global wind capacity.
Sure enough, according to the Global Wind Energy Council, the world installed a record 165 gigawatts of new wind capacity last year, up 40% from the previous year (albeit still short of what is required globally to meet the world’s climate goals). Much of that global growth is concentrated in China’s domestic market. Envision, however, has increasingly positioned itself as an outward-facing player, expanding its presence across Europe, India, Australia, and other overseas markets, even as parts of its US strategy — including the recent sale of a majority stake in its Tennessee battery facility — continue to evolve.
Soaring demand for battery storage
Where growth is accelerating even faster, however, is in energy storage, Envision’s representative tells us. The company’s senior leadership has pointed to “skyrocketing” demand, driven both by energy market volatility and surging electricity consumption, particularly across Europe, including the UK, France, Spain, and Germany.
The next stop on our tour brings that shift into focus. In another hangar-sized hall, rows of battery units are being assembled and fitted for delivery: an increasingly essential part of electricity grids being rebuilt worldwide to run on renewable power.
According to the International Energy Agency, battery storage was the fastest-growing power sector technology in 2025.
Envision’s experience mirrors what is happening globally. According to the International Energy Agency, battery storage was the fastest-growing power sector technology in 2025. The roughly 110 gigawatts of new capacity added exceeded the largest-ever annual additions for natural gas, and “more than 10 times what it was just five years ago.”
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Until recently, Envision’s energy storage orders have been split roughly evenly between China and overseas markets. That balance is now expected to shift, with as much as two-thirds of future demand coming from outside China, prompting plans to expand production capacity closer to those markets, as governments and customers become more sensitive to reliance on Chinese manufacturing in key technologies.
As one Envision representative put it during the visit, the company has been investing heavily in building “local teams” and manufacturing capabilities in countries beyond China, from the UK to India, allowing it to develop resilient local supply chains and operate more effectively across different regulatory and trade environments.
That push toward localization also extends beyond utility-scale storage. For example, it includes a new EV battery manufacturing facility in France, opened in mid-2025 with President Emmanuel Macron in attendance, as Envision moves to meet rising European demand. The facility’s primary customer is Renault, and it has the capacity to power roughly 200,000 EVs annually.
And yet, as striking as this expansion is, it was the final part of the tour that revealed the full scope of Envision’s ambition.
From shipping fuel to fertilizer, Envision Energy is building integrated systems designed to decarbonize entire supply chains.
The energy transition as industrial strategy
In a boardroom presentation, the company outlined a strategy that goes far beyond turbines and batteries — positioning itself as part of a broader industrial transformation. From shipping fuel to fertilizer, Envision Energy is building integrated systems designed to decarbonize entire supply chains. Central to that vision is the development of large-scale “net zero industrial parks,” where renewable power, storage, and green hydrogen are combined to reshape how energy-intensive industries operate.
One flagship example is its Ordos Net Zero Industrial Park in Inner Mongolia’s Chifeng region, where large-scale green hydrogen and ammonia production is being developed to support emerging markets for low-carbon fuels for hard-to-abate sectors. Japan’s Marubeni Corporation has already signed up to procure green ammonia from the facility for uses ranging from low-carbon power generation and maritime shipping fuel to industrial feedstocks such as fertilizers and chemicals.
The scale of what Envision is building is stunning, particularly for those of us arriving from the United States, where the narrative often still questions whether the energy transition is truly underway.