TIẾNG VIỆT Two Chinese battery firms to invest $1 billion into Vietnam
Xiamen Hithium, whose batteries currently power China’s largest BESS unit, could invest between $500-900 million in a greenfield plant in Vietnam. Image: Xiamen Hithium
The amount of combined value of the investments was estimated by a person with direct knowledge of the discussions, Reuters reported.
Xiamen Hithium Energy Storage Technology, a company that is growing in Europe and the U.S., has talked to officials and business leaders in Vietnam about investing up to $900 million to build a plant on more than 30 hectares of industrial land.
With that amount of investment capital, this company would be one of the biggest foreign investors in Vietnam.
Hithium, which is based in Xiamen city of China told Reuters in a statement that it was not close to closing any new deals. It also said that it hopes to increase its production capacity to 70 Gigawatts (GW) by the end of this year, up from 15 GW right now.
Growatt New Energy, which leases a pre-fabricated plant in Vietnam, plans to spend about $300 million to buy about 15 hectares of industrial land to build a new factory. A different person who knows about the talks also said that Growatt wants to grow in Vietnam.
Growatt, which makes energy storage inverters and battery systems for homes and businesses, did not respond to calls for comment.
Vietnam has become a global export hub thanks to its many free trade deals and cheap labor. More and more Chinese companies are starting or expanding industrial projects here.
The country is also a growing market for green energy, as its booming economy struggles with frequent power outages caused by rising demand, climate change, and a weak power grid. It hasn't passed any laws yet, though, that would let it use energy storage centers to make its power network stronger.
Hithium, which does not operate in Vietnam, makes stationary energy storage items including cells and larger containers to handle solar and wind farm energy.
Precedence Research expects the worldwide stationary energy storage market to reach $224 billion by the end of the decade from $31 billion in 2021. Tesla, Panasonic, and Philips are market leaders.
Source: Reuters
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