ZhiTong Financial APP news – October 29, 2023, Energy Sustainability Technology Innovation Forum, hosted by China Electricity Council (CEC) and China Industry University-Research Institute Collaboration Association (CIUR) and organized by China Power International Development Limited (China Power), was held in Beijing, and was attended by more than 300 representatives from politics, academia, finance, industry, media and other sectors. The forum focused on two themes, “ensuring energy security and driving future energy development with innovation”, exploring development paths for energy transition and sustainable development.
During the forum, four academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) delivered keynote speeches on energy security and technological innovation from their research perspectives, and shared their forward-looking insights on energy transition and innovative development.
Mr. He Xi, Chief Engineer (New Energy) of SPIC and Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of China Power, said that technological innovation is the lifeblood of an enterprise and China Power has accelerated the breakthrough of technological innovation and continues to demonstrate its responsibility as a sci-tech based central energy enterprise, solve the key and difficult problems in the process of building new power systems and serving and ensuring the country’s energy security on the new journey, and realize the goals of rapid clean energy development.
At the forum, China Power launched six technological innovations that are highly representative of the industry and lead the trend of industrial transformation.
(1) Digital twin technology based on AI big data computing, developed by XYZ Storage Technology, enabling the development of new energy storage industry with digital intelligence; (2) full-color micro-painting technology, developed by Colorfulead Power, providing new full-color options for architecture/environment and PV power integration and PV module reuse; (3) “Energy Cube” and technological solutions, developed by Qiyuan Core Power, compatible with more than 95% of the battery swap stations and 92 brands of electric vehicles on the market and creating a community of transportation and energy integration; (4) fire extinguishing agent for electrochemical energy storage stations and high-security fire‑fighting coolant technology, developed by Sinopower New Materials Technology, providing all-round and full-time guarding for batteries in energy storage power stations and realize intrinsic safety; (5) new power distribution system with “photovoltaic, energy storage, direct current and flexibility”, developed by Xinyuan Guochen, realizing mutual power aid between transformers and improving power distribution equipment utilization and power supply reliability; and (6) five robot products, developed by China Power Yuchuang, applicable to different job scenarios of the electric power industry and empowering the transformation and upgrading of the traditional production modes with AI.
In fact, China Power’s technological innovation has always been at the forefront of the industry, with notable achievements in energy storage, color PV power, and green transportation. In 2023, for example, the smart energy storage and control operation platform developed by XYZ Storage Technology was put into operation, enabling China’s first 100 MW grid-side energy storage power station to access the cloud platform through the Internet. The first full-color PV power generation signage system and street lighting system have been demonstrated and applied in Tongzhou District and Fangshan District. The first unmanned battery swap station for heavy-duty trucks in Xinjiang has been built up to create the first smart and green mine model project in South Xinjiang.
China Power embraces both technological innovation and energy transition, to improve the operational efficiency of energy and comprehensively enhance the level of digital intelligence, and continuously increase the installed capacity of clean energy for the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. As disclosed in the half-yearly report 2023, China Power has a consolidated installed capacity of 32,941.2 MW, with clean energy (hydropower, wind power, solar power, gas power and biomass power) accounting for 66.35%, a significant increase of 15.6% year on year.
China Power’s installed clean energy capacity has increased rapidly thanks to the fact that, as SPIC’s listed flagship clean energy company, China Power has received strong support from its controlling shareholder, SPIC, which has continued to invest in clean assets. In August 2023, for example, China Power announced the acquisition of five new energy companies with a total of 9.27 GW wind and PV power capacity from SPIC for a consideration of CNY 10.785 billion, which is the industry’s largest investment in new energy by a listed company.
It is noted that China Power’s shareholders and controlling shareholder have been supporting its development, and have increased their shareholdings in China Power through the secondary market. According to China Power’s announcement on October 25, 2023, SPIC increased its shareholding in China Power in the past year by 346 million shares, to 62.82%. In addition, SPIC plans to further increase its shareholding in China Power in the open market before June 30, 2024, with a total amount of not more than HK$ 2 billion. This fully demonstrates the controlling shareholder’s long-term commitment to China Power, as well as its firm confidence in China Power’s prospects, or brings reverie for the subsequent asset injection action.
While China Power continues to lead the industry in the clean energy market, it is also actively returning to its shareholders. In January 2019, China Power established a dividend policy to declare and pay cash dividends of not less than 50% of the annual net profit of shareholders. The policy has been consistently implemented. In fact, according to the dividend payout ratio for 2018-2022 (excluding 2021), the average payout ratio is as high as 82.3%.
At the forum, China Power not only demonstrated its strong scientific and technological achievements, but also provided the outside world with more channels to understand its power. Following the state policy, leading the industry in terms of assets and technological innovation, promising a high dividend payout ratio, China Power has opened its growth space while the controlling shareholder continues to increase its shareholding and inject assets to improve performance expectations. China Power is undoubtedly a high-performing “white horse stock”. However, there is a lack of liquidity in the Hong Kong stock trading market at the current stage, and high-performing stocks are also short of digging up and guiding. China Power, with a price-to-book ratio of only 0.7, has a large space for valuation return.