On the morning of August 26, the special press conference of Neijiang Economic Development Zone under the series 'County in Action' was held. Liang Hongyuan, member of the Party Working Committee and deputy director of the management committee, introduced the latest progress of the 'Chuan-Yu Sodium-Ion Battery Industrial Park' when answering questions: the main plant and office buildings of HSD Sodium Star's 6 GWh per year sodium-ion cell project have basically been completed, and the project is expected to enter the commissioning stage in September this year. The project covers a planned area of 250 mu with a proposed investment of RMB 2 billion, to be built in two phases; after full production, its annual output value is expected to exceed RMB 3 billion, making it a key leading project for the park to promote large-scale sodium battery deployment.
According to the development zone, the project took only 92 days from groundbreaking to structural topping-out, creating a 'Neijiang speed' for park construction. Zhao Zhao, deputy secretary of the Party Working Committee and director of the management committee, stated in the main release that the zone has attracted key projects such as HSD Sodium Star, Aipuno (silicon-carbon anode), Amite (composite current collector) and Yingna, achieving breakthroughs from key materials (silicon-carbon anode, composite current collector, polyanionic cathode) to cell manufacturing, and is building a high-standard 'Chuan-Yu Sodium Battery Industrial Park' with a full-chain 'five-in-one' pattern from materials, cells, system integration to end applications and equipment manufacturing.
In terms of park layout, in addition to the 6 GWh HSD Sodium Star cell project, Zhejiang Shenweiye's 6 GWh per year sodium/lithium-ion battery R&D and production base project has a total investment of RMB 3 billion, planning one prismatic sodium battery line and two cylindrical lithium battery lines, with output value expected to reach RMB 3 billion after full production; Yingna New Energy's 50,000 tons per year sodium-ion cathode material project covers 82 mu with a total investment of RMB 1.5 billion; Gaojia New Energy mainly produces sodium-ion precision structural parts. These projects form supporting relationships with leading battery companies in the Sichuan-Chongqing region such as CATL, BYD and CALB. The zone previously held the Chengdu-Chongqing (Neijiang) Sodium Battery Industry Ecological Development Conference on May 20 and signed eight sodium battery projects. Liang Hongyuan noted that the core zone of the industrial park is planned to cover about 3,000 mu, with a sodium battery industry development plan being compiled, aiming to cultivate more than 20 industry chain enterprises within 3 to 5 years and form a RMB 10-billion-level industrial cluster by 2030, building the zone into the core carrier of sodium battery industry innovation in the Sichuan-Chongqing region.
'expected to enter commissioning in September' is the disclosure caliber of the government press conference; commissioning is still distant from actual mass-production ramp-up, and the production start time should be subject to company announcements; 'RMB 10-billion-level industrial cluster' and 'cultivating more than 20 enterprises' are development goals, not achievements; the production start times of Shenweiye, Yingna and other projects have not been disclosed.