GreenergyDaily

Jul. 29, 2024

1. CATL's net profit widened over 10% to CNY22.9 billion (USD3.2 billion) in the first half of the year from a year earlier, the Chinese battery giant said on July 26. Revenue fell 12% to CNY166.8 billion (USD23 billion) in the period.

2. Debt-laden China Evergrande's NEV arm dived nearly 9% as of 9.55 a.m. today after it said yesterday that two of its units are facing bankruptcy and reorganization proceedings initiated by individual creditors on July 25, which will significantly affect its production and operations.

3. China has become the world's largest chemicals market, and its growth momentum is increasing, according to the chairman and president of the Chinese arm of German chemical giant BASF. China is an important growth engine for the future of the chemicals industry, which presents BASF with tremendous development opportunities and encourages the company to keep cultivating and investing in the Chinese market, according to Yicai.

4. Ningde Nuclear Power Plant in SE China's Fujian on Sunday began main body construction of its No.5 unit using homegrown Hualong One tech, expected to add 10 billion kWh of power generation capacity a year to the plant which delivered over 290 billion kWh in phase-I as of June since 2016.

5. Asia continues to draw liquefied natural gas from Europe with imports in July rising to the most in six months, even as spot prices stayed near seven-month highs. The top-importing region is on track for arrivals of 24.85 million metric tons of the super-chilled fuel, up from 22.60 million in June and the highest since January's 26.19 million, according to data compiled by commodity analysts Kpler.

6. Aito, a car brand backed by Chinese tech giant Huawei, saw its 400,000th vehicle roll off the production line today, two and a half years after the new brand's inception on December 2, 2021. Aito's 400,000th vehicle is an M9 SUV, the most expensive in its current lineup, with a starting price of RMB 469,800 ($64,760).

7. Expansion of the world's first fourth-generation nuclear power plant, the Shidaowan high temperature gas-cooled reactor nuclear power plant, began in east China's Shandong Province on Sunday. The project, for which China owns fully independent intellectual property rights, is located in Rongcheng County, Weihai City. It is jointly developed by China Huaneng Group, Tsinghua University and China National Nuclear Corporation.

8. Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, said his fear of US sanctions in 2021 pushed him to build an electric vehicle (EV) business from scratch, revealing for the first time a key motivating factor in his decision to venture into a notoriously challenging business segment.

9. The eighth China-South Asia Expo concluded Sunday, with domestic and foreign trade contracts worth a total value of over 8 billion yuan (about $112 million) signed, according to the organizers.

10. Wind and solar generated more electricity than fossil fuels in the EU during the first half of 2024, according to new analysis. This was the first time this had happened for an entire six-month period, according to Ember.