Two Chinese battery manufacturers expand production projects in Vietnam

DNHN - Both Hithium and Growatt New Energy are currently in negotiations with the Vietnamese government regarding potential factory locations.

According to sources cited by Reuters on June 8, two major Chinese manufacturers of batteries and energy storage systems are considering investing hundreds of millions of dollars in Vietnam. Thus, it is anticipated that the total value of the investments will exceed USD 1 billion.

China's foremost battery manufacturer is Xiamen Lithium Energy Storage Technology Co., Ltd. It is the leading company in the Chinese market in terms of energy storage battery projects and order volume growth rate (reaching more than 4,000%). The company has announced its intention to invest up to $900 million to construct a factory on over 30 hectares of industrial land in Hai Duong.

Upon completion of this investment, the company will become one of the largest foreign investors in Vietnam. According to a source for Reuters, the proposed investment will be worth at least $500 million.

Lithium has offices and manufacturing facilities in the United States, Germany, India, Australia, and Singapore in addition to its headquarters in Xiamen, Fujian, China. This high-tech company was founded in 2019, specializing in the research and development, manufacturing, and sale of lithium-ion battery core materials, LFP energy storage batteries, and systems. The company has approximately $520 million in net sales in 2022 and plans to increase its production capacity to 70 Gigawatts (GW) by the end of the year, up from 15 GW today.

Growatt New Energy, a manufacturer of battery systems and energy storage inverters for commercial and residential use, has rented a prefabricated factory in Vietnam and plans to spend approximately 300 million Vietnamese Dong. USD constructed a new factory on 15 hectares of industrial land. A separate source told Reuters that Growatt has expansion plans in Vietnam.

In February of last year, the company inaugurated phase 1 of its Hai Phong production facility. This facility is located in the Nam Dinh Vu industrial zone in Hai Phong to produce solar inverters, storage inverters, and storage batteries, with plans to expand to an annual production capacity of 500,000 inverters and 100,000 sets of batteries.

At the factory opening ceremony, David Ding, President and CEO of Growatt, stated, "The opening of the factory in Vietnam is a significant milestone for Growatt as we advance our globalization strategy to expand our operations globally."

Both corporations are in negotiations with the Vietnamese side regarding possible factory locations.

Currently, lithium is unavailable in Vietnam. The company specializes in the manufacture of stationary energy storage products, such as larger cells and tanks that assist in managing the intermittent power supply from solar or wind farms.

According to Precedence Research, the global market for fixed energy storage is projected to reach approximately $224 billion by the end of this decade, up from approximately $31 billion in 2021. Major market participants include Tesla, Panasonic, and Philips.

Minh Tu (t/h)