Shuffle and upgrade! Energy storage plus VS bankruptcy reorganization, project "folding" staged in turn

　　The global energy storage market has entered a period of deep reshuffle from a period of rapid development.

　　On the one hand, leading energy storage companies with technical strength and product competitiveness may meet a new round of order peaks on a global scale, or flexibly adjust their business strategies by building factories overseas and increasing project investment to further consolidate their core competitiveness. On the other hand, many weak energy storage companies with backward technology and insufficient funds are difficult to gain a foothold in the increasingly fierce market competition and are accelerating their exit from the market.

　　A few families are happy and a few are sad. Some companies have the capital to "buck the trend" and spend huge sums of money to increase the construction of energy storage projects, while others are overwhelmed and have to choose to postpone, terminate the project, or embark on the road of bankruptcy reorganization or even exit.

　　Battery China has noticed that recently, SolaX Energy has successfully landed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board with the rise of European household storage business, and has once again increased the large storage market, as well as the bankruptcy reorganization of Thornton New Energy, a former "old" battery company, and a number of companies have announced the postponement or termination of related lithium battery projects, and there are countless small factories that have quietly disappeared, and the industry reshuffle is going faster than imagined.

01

In 2024, the "first share" of household storage will be listed

　　Taking advantage of the explosion of demand for household savings in Europe and the rapid rise of the east wind, SolaX Energy was successfully listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange at the beginning of this year, becoming the first stock of household savings IPO in 2024. Recently, SolaX Energy has received new news, announcing that it will invest more than 1 billion yuan to increase the large storage business.

　　It is reported that SolaX Energy plans to invest a total of no less than 1.05 billion yuan to invest in the construction of "large-scale energy storage system and smart energy system R&D and production project" in Tonglu Economic Development Zone, Zhejiang. In terms of construction content, it includes emerging business directions such as a large-scale energy storage system manufacturing center, an air source heat pump manufacturing center, a "photovoltaic storage and heat charging" smart energy system manufacturing center, a R&D laboratory and a testing center.

　　From this investment plan, it can be seen that SolaX Energy, which previously focused on the fields of distributed optical storage and household energy storage, and focused on overseas markets, is adjusting its development strategy in line with the changes in the global energy storage market, and will focus on the large storage track and expand its business territory.

　　In fact, large-scale energy storage on the source and grid side is still the mainstream type globally. China, United States and Europe are the top three energy storage markets in the world, accounting for nearly 90% of the global market. Among them, China and United States are mainly large storage, although Europe is mainly based on household storage installation, but since this year, affected by factors such as falling electricity prices in Europe and high inventory, household storage demand is less than expected, and large storage demand has shown an accelerated development trend under policy encouragement. Obviously, SolaX Energy's move to the large storage track is to see the huge growth potential of the mainstream track in the future, which is far from touching the development ceiling of the energy storage industry.

　　At the same time, SolaX Energy seems to have long realized that the excessive concentration in the European household storage market may have an increasing impact on its own performance, so it is also actively exploring the sales area of its products.

　　According to the data disclosed in SolaX Energy's semi-annual report, in the first half of this year, its European market revenue accounted for 70% of total revenue, while before 2023, this data will exceed 90%. In addition, due to its over-reliance on the European household savings market, in the context of cooling European household reserves and high inventories since the second half of 2023, its total revenue and net profit in H1 2024 will decrease by 53.41% and 89.44% year-on-year respectively, and the net profit level will fall to the lowest level in the same period in three years.

　　During this period, SolaX Energy responded to the changes by accelerating its expansion into "new" markets outside of Europe. It is reported that it has shipped to emerging markets such as Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Morocco, and Brazil, and is actively expanding markets such as Japan and United States.

02

The former "dark horse" is facing bankruptcy reorganization

Another lithium battery project was announced to be terminated

　　In stark contrast to SolaX Energy's rapid adjustment of its strategy in the face of market changes and achieved good results, it entered the field of new energy in 2011 and once ranked among the top 10 "old" battery companies in China's power battery installation.

　　According to public information, Thornton New Energy is mainly engaged in lithium battery cells and automotive and energy storage lithium battery systems. It has built a closed loop of the ecological industry chain from battery materials, cells, packs, battery cloud platform to battery cascade utilization, battery recycling and downstream charging, and it is also one of the first battery companies to enter the field of energy storage.

　　It is understood that in 2023, it has also officially announced the new progress of the energy storage business many times, and released relevant news that it has reached cooperation with a number of well-known energy storage companies. In terms of energy storage batteries, it launched a special battery for energy storage with a single capacity of 280Ah as early as 2020, and its second-generation 315Ah battery cell in 2022. In addition, in 2023, it has also issued a tender for energy storage materials covering accessories such as large storage, industrial and commercial storage, household storage PCS, EMS, BMS and fire protection systems.

　　The latest news shows that Thornton New Energy, which was filed for bankruptcy reorganization by creditors, has a registered capital of more than 3.2 billion yuan, its revenue last year was 262 million yuan, and its net loss was 524 million yuan, as of the end of last year, its total assets were about 6.6 billion yuan, and its total liabilities were about 3.8 billion yuan. The Intermediate People's Court of Xiangtan City, Hunan Province, which accepted the case, found that although Thornton New Energy was unable to pay off its debts due and obviously lacked solvency, it was expected to resolve the risk through the reorganization procedure. According to the court, Thornton New Energy is eager to revitalize its assets and improve the repayment rate of claims through the reorganization procedure, so it has reorganization value and the possibility of reorganization, and meets the conditions for bankruptcy reorganization.

　　In addition to the bankruptcy of some enterprises, a number of lithium-related projects have been suspended or terminated since the beginning of this year. Recently, Dongfeng Group, a listed company whose main business is the design, production and sales of cigarette label printing and related packaging materials, announced that it plans to invest 359 million yuan in the construction of the "Yancheng Bosheng Lithium Battery Separator Production Project (Phase II)" to terminate the implementation.

　　Dongfeng Group said, "In view of the changes in the current market environment, the company's existing lithium battery separator production capacity has been able to basically meet the needs of existing customers and orders, and in the short term, the uncertainties of business development have increased." In order to avoid increasing its financial burden due to excessive investment, Dongfeng Group chose to terminate the implementation of the project. It is reported that Dongfeng Group, founded in 1983, takes its subsidiary Bosheng New Materials as the main implementation body of lithium battery separator business, and its customers include BYD, CATL, Zhengli New Energy, Xingheng Power, Haichen Energy Storage, Penghui Energy and other battery companies.

　　In addition, this year, many domestic companies such as Tianli Lithium Energy, Baoming Technology, Yicheng New Energy, Nord Co., Ltd., and Black Sesame have announced the termination or postponement of relevant lithium battery projects, while foreign well-known companies such as LG New Energy, BASF, and Northvolt have also announced the suspension of production capacity construction projects.

　　It can be seen that the situation of the lithium battery industry is severe, and both the power and energy storage battery markets are currently facing the problem of falling prices and large inventory pressure. Lithium battery industry giants still feel huge pressure in the extremely involuted market environment, and some cross-border players who lack technical support and accumulation and small enterprises with insufficient strength are more likely to be cleared in the industrial reshuffle.

　　However, a market that is still "rolling" is a market that still has money to make. From the perspective of industry development, reshaping the industrial pattern through "reshuffle" is conducive to the long-term and healthy development of the industry. As an enterprise, in the face of the complexity and uncertainty of market demand, if you want to avoid being eliminated, you need to combine your own advantages, do a good job in the future market research and judgment, find the correct positioning, and forge a stronger strength.