New energy and new materials output jumps nearly 50% in Q1
2026-05-20 19:05:37
By Chen Zai
In the first quarter, Yichang’s new energy and new materials industry generated 17.62 billion yuan (US$2.59 billion) in output value, up 49.5 percent year on year and accounting for 18.7 percent of the city’s total industrial output.
Yichang has 67 major enterprises included in official statistics for the new energy and new materials sector. From January to April, the sector’s output growth from a year ago further accelerated to 52.5 percent. In 2025, the industry’s total output value increased by 90.4 percent from a year earlier.
Energy storage companies have become a key driver of growth. In the first quarter, output at the local branch of Hi-Tech Spring increased more than sixfold, while output at the Yichang Brunp Industrial Park exceeded 4.8 billion yuan, up 110 percent year on year.
Major projects are also making steady progress. Phase I of Cornex’s 65 GWh project in Yichang is operating steadily, with orders already scheduled through September. The volume is enough to power 20,000 Chinese families for a year. Phase II was topped out in April and, once completed, is expected to lift the Yichang base’s total production capacity to 180 GWh.
Phase I of Envision AESC’s Yichang gigafactory, with a planned annual capacity of 40 GWh, has entered the final preparation stage for production.
Leveraging its phosphate rock resources, industrial supply-chain advantages, and ongoing energy storage projects, Yichang is positioning the new energy and new materials sector as a new engine of industrial growth.
Reporter Yang Jing contributed to this story.
In the first quarter, Yichang’s new energy and new materials industry generated 17.62 billion yuan (US$2.59 billion) in output value, up 49.5 percent year on year and accounting for 18.7 percent of the city’s total industrial output.
A view of the newly completed Changyang New Energy Storage Station. Located in the Changyang Economic Development Zone, the project is Yichang’s first new energy storage project and the first large-scale grid-side vanadium redox flow battery energy storage project in western Hubei.
Photo by Huang Xiang.
Photo by Huang Xiang.
Yichang has 67 major enterprises included in official statistics for the new energy and new materials sector. From January to April, the sector’s output growth from a year ago further accelerated to 52.5 percent. In 2025, the industry’s total output value increased by 90.4 percent from a year earlier.
Energy storage companies have become a key driver of growth. In the first quarter, output at the local branch of Hi-Tech Spring increased more than sixfold, while output at the Yichang Brunp Industrial Park exceeded 4.8 billion yuan, up 110 percent year on year.
Major projects are also making steady progress. Phase I of Cornex’s 65 GWh project in Yichang is operating steadily, with orders already scheduled through September. The volume is enough to power 20,000 Chinese families for a year. Phase II was topped out in April and, once completed, is expected to lift the Yichang base’s total production capacity to 180 GWh.
Phase I of Envision AESC’s Yichang gigafactory, with a planned annual capacity of 40 GWh, has entered the final preparation stage for production.
Leveraging its phosphate rock resources, industrial supply-chain advantages, and ongoing energy storage projects, Yichang is positioning the new energy and new materials sector as a new engine of industrial growth.
Reporter Yang Jing contributed to this story.
