Storage integrator Powin warns of shutdown as market uncertainty swirls

Powin, one of the world’s biggest battery storage integrators, is warning that it may need to lay off nearly 250 employees in Oregon and cease operations by late July, citing “unforeseen circumstances” in the market.

The Oregon-based company’s WARN notice represents one of the most prominent casualties yet of policy turbulence that has gripped the energy storage sector in 2025. 

Powin designs, commissions and services utility-scale battery projects, positioning itself as what CEO Jeff Waters calls “that one throat to choke” for utilities and power producers deploying storage assets.

According to rankings from S&P, Powin had the third most gigawatt-hours of batteries installed in the U.S., in 2024, and the fourth most globally. 

In January, Clean Energy Associates issued an analysis showing how the battery storage industry faced “multiple layers of policy risk,” ranging from tariffs, tax credit repeal, and Chinese content exclusions. Some large battery projects have been delayed as a result. 

Developers are waiting to see the outcome of budget reconciliation later this year before moving forward with projects. Meanwhile, procurement has become increasingly complex as companies try to navigate overlapping tariff regimes and domestic content requirements.

When asked for comment, Powin issued the following statement to Latitude Media: “Powin is navigating a period of significant financial challenge, reflective of ongoing headwinds in the broader energy storage industry. These challenges have been compounded by recent tariff developments that have added cost and complexity to the company’s operations and ongoing uncertainty surrounding the Investment Tax Credit (ITC).”

The company has appointed New York lawyer Jerry Uzzi of Uzzi & Lall as “the Independent Manager” of Powin to work through “immediate cost reductions and the pursuit of strategic alternatives” to find a path forward.

In a recent interview, Waters described how tariffs and concerns about Inflation Reduction Act incentives had put the U.S. storage market “into a bit of a state of suspended animation.” 

The paralysis has created what Waters called a risk allocation crisis, with “off takers trying to push more of the tariff risk onto developers and developers trying to push it more onto guys like us, like the integrators and the cell suppliers.” The result: “The risk is just far too high for anybody to take on, and that’s why you see the delays.”

Speaking to the New York Times, Tristan Doherty, chief product officer of LGES Vertech, worried about how steep, on-again off-again tariffs are “poison” for the industry. “A little bit of tariff metered out on the right time scale, at the right level, can get us to a much better place. But too much too fast can kill us,” he said.

A major vulnerability for Powin: its reliance on Chinese lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, the dominant technology for utility-scale storage. However, that reliance on Chinese-made products is a challenge for the entire industry.

Waters had previously argued for deeper partnerships with Chinese manufacturers, drawing parallels to how Japan, Taiwan and South Korea built semiconductor capabilities through strategic alliances rather than protectionist policies. “The only way we’re gonna get anywhere in the U.S. market with storage is by partnering with the Chinese,” he said.

Powin’s potential closure would eliminate a significant player from the storage integration market at a critical moment for grid modernization. The company’s global operations — spanning Australia, Europe and Southeast Asia — provide some diversification.

While the U.S. battery storage market is expected to break records in 2025, Wood Mackenzie analysts project a significant decline in annual installations through 2029, if tariffs hold and IRA incentives are repealed.

Half of battery storage projects planned for 2026 and beyond could be at risk of delay or renegotiation, Ravi Manghani of Anza Renewables told Canary Media.

“The things that keep you awake at nights are the things that you have a hard time controlling,” explained Waters in the interview.

Whether Powin can resolve its business challenges in the next two months may signal how other storage companies will fare under a deeply chaotic policy environment.