After experiencing a downturn in 2022, most wind power manufacturers expect this year to be brighter. According to the National Energy Administration of China, in the first quarter of 2023, newly installed wind power capacity in China was 10.40GW, an increase of 30%; in the first half of 2023, the domestic installed wind power capacity reached 390 million kW.
However, in addition to work hard on the wind power installation business, the leading manufacturers try to seek new profit opportunities.
For instance, Mingyang Smart Energy (SH: 601615) and BASF jointly announced on July 21 this year to invest in a wind farm in S China's Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province.
The main business of Mingyang was originally the manufacturing and sales of wind power machines, but in recent years, the company began to invest in and operate wind farms, which might become the company's another revenue growth point.
According to Mingyang's financial report of 2022, its sales of power station products and wind farm business accounted for 23% of the total revenue, and its gross profit rate was much higher than that of the complete machine business.
The five leading wind power manufacturers including Mingyang, Goldwind ((SZ: 002202), Envision, Windey (SZ：300772), and Sany (SH：688349), all begin to invest in wind farms and develop photovoltaic, energy storage, hydrogen, etc., seeking the next profit growth chance.
-- Profit Growth Points: Photovoltaic, Energy Storage, and Hydrogen Businesses
Mingyang is one of the first wind turbine manufacturers to develop photovoltaic products, and it mainly concentrates on midstream modules and batteries.
At present, Mingyang has established two major production bases in Yancheng City and Shaoguan City, with 5GW high-efficiency heterojunction cell + module production capacity. In 2024, its planned N-type production capacity is expected to reach 30GW.
Goldwind, Windey, and Sany have paid more attention to the downstream of the photovoltaic industry chain.
Goldwind's business in the photovoltaic industry mainly includes the operation and trading of photovoltaic power plants, industrial investments as well.
In July this year, Goldwind announced a plan to build a new energy equipment industrial base in Qinhuangdao, Shandong province, with a total investment of CNY 4 bln in the photovoltaic part.
Windey developed the photovoltaic business with late but fast progress.
At the end of September 2022, Windey and China Resources jointly established a photovoltaic company. In 2023, the photovoltaic power generation project constructed by Windey for the Zhezhong Grain and Oil Trading Center was connected to the grid. It was expected to achieve an annual power generation of 2.6076 mln kWh and an average annual electricity saving of CNY 786,000.
Envision is the only unlisted company among the five leading wind power manufacturers, but it is the first to enter the photovoltaic field. It proposed the concept of Energy Internet, launched an operation management system for photovoltaic power plant assets based on big data, and launched China's first photovoltaic power plant risk assessment and rating product Rui Ping.
In recent years, with the rapid development of hydrogen energy, wind power manufacturers have also begun to develop the business of hydrogen energy. The hydrogen energy industry chain mainly includes production, storage, transportation, refueling, hydrogen battery manufacturing, energy application, etc.
The photovoltaic industry has already been full of competitors, and the profit possibilities left for new entrants are very limited. For wind power manufacturers, new technologies and the development of Zero-Carbon Industrial Parks could be ways help to win. However, how to achieve a balance in cost sharing, benefit distribution, and risk sharing poses challenges to all participants.
