On September 4, 2024, Wanhua Chemical and Haichen Energy Storage entered a new era of strategic cooperation, and jointly drew a blueprint for cooperation in six key areas: battery materials, energy storage products, battery and material recycling, sodium electric technology, information technology, and joint research and development. This strategic move not only demonstrates Wanhua Chemical's determination and strength in expanding its second growth curve battery materials, but also indicates the in-depth layout and coordinated development of the two parties in the energy storage industry, which is the future energy map.

In recent years, Wanhua Chemical's investment in the field of battery materials has increased significantly, with a cumulative investment of more than 10 billion yuan, especially in the first half of 2024, when the book balance of its battery industry chain projects surged by 7.14 billion yuan, demonstrating the company's long-term commitment and firm confidence in this emerging field. Although the current market environment is facing challenges, such as the recent short-term fluctuations in the performance of Ananda Wanhua Holding Company affected by the fluctuation of iron phosphate business, Wanhua Chemical's long-term and large-scale investment strategy in the battery business has not changed, and it has realized that the competition in conventional battery products is becoming increasingly fierce, and it is urgent to find new growth points.

The field of energy storage, as an important direction of future energy applications, is ushering in unprecedented development opportunities. The installed capacity of new energy storage in China has jumped to the first place in the world, and with the acceleration of distributed photovoltaic construction and the pressure on grid capacity, the demand for energy storage systems is becoming more and more urgent. Overseas markets also showed strong growth momentum, with United States as an example achieving rapid growth in its utility-scale energy storage installations.

In this context, as a leader in the field of energy storage in China, Hichain Energy Storage has become an ideal partner of Wanhua Chemical by virtue of its rapidly rising market position, excellent product performance and global layout strategy. The cooperation between the two parties will not only promote the complementary advantages of each other in the energy storage industry chain, but also is expected to jointly build a complete closed loop of the energy storage industry and achieve all-round synergy from material supply, product research and development to market application.

In addition, the cooperation between the two parties also involves the in-depth sharing of supply chain data, the cooperation of overseas battery material recycling projects, and the construction of domestic joint laboratories, etc., which will further strengthen the cooperative relationship between the two parties, enhance the overall competitiveness, and inject new vitality and momentum into the future development of the energy storage industry. It can be said that the strong combination of chemical Mao and energy storage dark horse is opening a new chapter that is expected to be opened.Editor/Jiang Mingyue