China targets perovskite solar, advanced batteries in five-year plan

China's MIIT and NDRC have released a five-year industrial roadmap for 2026-30 that designates perovskite solar and next-generation batteries as strategic manufacturing priorities. The plan calls for tighter state oversight of capacity and pricing in these sectors while setting technology development targets across polysilicon production, module encapsulation, battery chemistry (solid-state, sodium-ion, flow) and inverter digitalization. No specific deployment or capacity targets were announced.

Where this fits

This is a sovereignty story. China is consolidating state control over the supply chain for two technologies Australia has committed to at scale: perovskite solar (the next generation of PV efficiency) and the battery chemistries that grid firming and transport electrification depend on. The plan signals that Beijing sees these as strategic assets, not mere commodities. Australia's renewable transition rests on continuous access to Chinese manufacturing. When China moves to tighten capacity controls and coordinate supply across the value chain, it is signalling intent to manage global prices and availability, not compete on open markets.

What it means

Australia has built a grid strategy around renewables whose supply chain is owned, financed and controlled by a strategic competitor. Perovskite cells and solid-state batteries are not yet mature; the tooling, process knowledge and material inputs will flow through Chinese state-directed factories. Australia will need these technologies in volume to meet reliability targets as coal retires. The alternative, firm, domestically viable nuclear power, remains banned by law. The grid is being locked into dependence on Chinese supply decisions for two technologies that do not yet exist at scale, while the one form of firm generation Australia could build and own is prohibited.