source of this article: time finance author: Zhang tingwen

Image source: Figure worm creativity

Zhuhai, located in the heart of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, is connected to Hong Kong and Macao land bridges through the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. At present, the new energy industry here has begun to take shape.

in zhuhai, the relevant industries in the middle and lower reaches of new energy are obviously concentrated. local enterprises include zhuhai guanyu (688772.SH), gaojing solar energy co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "gaojing solar energy"), gree titanium new energy co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "gree titanium"), etc. companies in other regions are also actively laying out here, such as Aixu shares (600732.SH), Weijing Energy Storage Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Weijing Energy Storage") and so on.

It is worth noting that state-owned assets are indispensable behind the development of the local new energy industry in Zhuhai. Zhuhai Gree Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Gree Group") and Zhuhai Huafa Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Huafa Group") The representative state-owned enterprises have taken up the "banner".

Midstream and downstream agglomeration

"Nationwide, Zhuhai is a city with particularly good comprehensive conditions for the development of the energy storage industry. In terms of the downstream of the industrial chain, Guangdong Province has advantages, new energy vehicle companies such as BYD, GAC E'an, Xiaopeng, etc.; and Guangdong's electricity prices are higher, it is easier to achieve high yields", Zhang Lin, who is engaged in new energy industry investment-related work in Zhuhai, told Times Finance.

in Zhuhai's new energy industry, the concentration of the middle and lower reaches of the energy storage industry is higher. Zhuhai guanyu, penghui energy (300438.SZ), Tris solar energy (688599.SH), Exxon new energy, weijing energy storage and other battery manufacturing representative enterprises are located here. in addition, there are also pilot intelligence (300450.SZ), keheng shares (300340.SZ), Qingdao energy electric bee, Haibosi and other representative enterprises.

"But at present, it is not considered that a very complete industrial chain has been formed." Wang Sheng, who is engaged in the energy storage industry in Zhuhai, said that there are relatively few companies in the upstream of the energy storage industry in Zhuhai, and the supporting facilities formed are relatively weak. Compared with Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai's siphon effect is slightly lacking.

In order to expand the upstream industry chain of energy storage, Zhuhai is building a lithium-electric upstream materials professional park to support 300GWh lithium battery production capacity. At present, the total investment in new energy storage in Zhuhai is 88.4 billion yuan, and the new output value is estimated to be 153.2 billion yuan by 2025.

In terms of photovoltaics, leading companies such as Gaojing Solar, Aixu and Yaoling Times have built a photovoltaic industry system in Zhuhai that extends from silicon wafers to batteries and to modules.

on April 11 this year, aixu shares announced that it plans to invest in the construction of 3.5GW new generation high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells and 10GW supporting components on the basis of the existing 6.5GW new generation high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cell project in Zhuhai base, forming 10GW new generation high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cell and 10GW supporting component production capacity.

among them, the 3.5GW new generation high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cell expansion project is a sub-project of the "investment framework agreement for aixu solar cell project" signed by the company and Zhuhai municipal people's government in 2021, with a planned investment of 1.4 billion yuan. 10GW supporting components are new projects with a planned investment of 5 billion yuan.

The rapid development of Zhuhai's new energy industry is inseparable from the government's attention. The relevant staff of Doumen District Investment Promotion Center said, "In Zhuhai, some projects can be built first and then reported, reducing the cycle. The government cooperates with enterprises to rush for orders and business."

Zhang Lin also told Times Finance that one of the important reasons for choosing Zhuhai is that Zhuhai provides a general environment conducive to the development of the new energy industry. The government provides subsidies for fixed asset investment, has a tax return policy, and rents are more favorable. Enterprises have a certain attraction.

"Zhuhai Bureau of Industry and Information Technology to take the lead, every month to report the progress of energy storage related work, the relevant leaders have also done a lot of homework. This two years, Zhuhai new energy industry development progress is relatively large. State-owned investment in the introduction of many photovoltaic, energy storage related large enterprises, the introduction of enterprises often a lease is the entire park, the scale is relatively large, but also to promote other related enterprises to further concentration." Zhang Lin said.

State-owned assets take the lead

Huafa Group was established in 1980, the same age as the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone, with 92.13 per cent of the shares held by the Zhuhai SASAC and 7.87 per cent by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Finance.

since 2020, huafa group has introduced 26GW of new high-efficiency solar cells and 50GW of high-tech solar photovoltaic large-size silicon wafers in Zhuhai's local strategic investment. along the chain, huafa group has attracted upstream and downstream supporting enterprises such as puyte and pradi, totaling more than 10 projects.

In the direction of energy storage, Huafa Group has successfully introduced new energy storage enterprises such as Haibosi, which has the largest installed capacity of new energy storage systems in the domestic market for three consecutive years, and Penghui Energy, a world-renowned energy storage battery supplier. In the field of new energy vehicles and hydrogen energy, Huafa Group has invested in nearly 70 enterprises.

according to Nanfang Daily, the total planned investment of the above-mentioned projects cited by Huafa Group exceeds 80 billion yuan, and the output value is expected to contribute more than 200 billion yuan after reaching production capacity, laying the foundation for Zhuhai to build a new energy industry cluster with a scale of 500 billion yuan within three years.

"We will focus on combining all aspects of people's lives, such as work, residence, travel, etc., to develop energy storage application scenarios more vigorously, such as charging piles, smart buildings, green houses, etc.", November 8, Relevant personnel of Huafa Group said at the 2023 Energy Electronics Expo.

Among the companies invested by Huafa Group, it is worth mentioning Gaojing Solar, which is mainly engaged in silicon wafer business. It was established in 2019. One of the actual controllers, Xu Zhiqun, was born in Jingke Energy Company. There are also many technical talents from Jingke Energy Company in the senior management team.

from 2020 to 2022, the revenue of Gaojing solar energy is 89100 yuan, 2490.6089 million yuan and 17570.3906 million yuan respectively, and the net profit attributable to the parent is -1.1363 million yuan, 108.0704 million yuan and 1820.5976 million yuan respectively. the growth rate is staggering.

Huafa Group has played an important role in Gaojing Solar's "road to prosperity", which can be described as "giving land and money".

in July 2019, Zhuhai shimen central business district construction holding co., ltd., indirectly controlled by huafa group, provided unit B25 (with an area of about 12 square meters) on the second floor of building 4, 153 rongao road, Hengqin new district, Zhuhai city to gaojing solar energy free of charge for use until December 2023 as the company's registered commercial residence and business place.

In 2020, in the initial stage of Gaojing Solar's operation, the subsidiaries of Huafa Group will bear the relevant expenses on their behalf, including the consulting service fee of 251600 yuan and the employee's salary of 875100 yuan. In 2021 and 2022, Gaojing Solar will have deposit and loan business with Zhuhai Huafa Group Finance Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Huafa Group.

Gao Jing solar energy said that in 2021, the company was in a period of climbing production capacity, with a large demand for funds, but the scale of income was small, and it was unable to obtain sufficient loan funds from other commercial banks. in order to ensure the needs of operation, the company carried out deposit and loan business in huafa finance company, and huafa group had similar arrangements for other eligible invested companies.

In addition, Guo Jin, who has been the director of Gaojing Solar Energy since February 2023, is also the deputy general manager of Huafa Group.

In addition to Gaojing Solar Energy in the photovoltaic industry, Huafa Group is also among the shareholders of Zhuhai Guanyu, another local lithium battery company in Zhuhai. As of the end of the third quarter of this year, Huafa Group indirectly held 15.5921 million outstanding shares of Zhuhai Guanyu through Zhuhai Technology Venture Capital Co., Ltd.

In addition to Huafa Group, Gree Group, a well-known state-owned enterprise in Zhuhai, has also made a lot of efforts in the new energy industry, which is jointly held by Zhuhai SASAC and Guangdong Provincial Department of Finance. In February 2020, Zhuhai Gree Ventures, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zhuhai Gree Financial Investment Management Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Gree Gold Investment"), had subscribed for a new registered capital of 9.0471 million yuan for Zhuhai Guanyu at 70 million yuan.

Gree Gold Investment related people told Times Finance and Economics that by the end of October 2023, Gree Gold Investment had attracted 10 new energy storage projects such as Zhuhai Zehui New Energy Materials Research Institute, Changyuan New Energy Development Co., Ltd., High Energy Times, Mingwei New Energy, Gejin New Energy, Hongjun New Energy, Exxon New Energy, Keheng New Energy Materials, Keheng Haoneng Energy and Zhongjing New Energy to Zhuhai. The registered capital of these projects in Zhuhai is nearly 2.5 billion yuan, and it is estimated that the amount of new investment in Zhuhai will exceed 21 billion yuan, and the annual output value after reaching production will exceed 38 billion yuan.

in addition, gree group has invested more than 0.2 billion yuan in guanyu battery through direct investment and millet industry fund. its new energy intelligent manufacturing project, soft-packed polymer lithium battery intelligent manufacturing project, has been started in doumen district of Zhuhai city. the performance of a number of invested enterprises in the new energy automobile industry chain, such as shangfu electric technology and yingbo, has also achieved substantial growth.

(The interviewees in the article are all pseudonyms)