On May 20th, at the site of the 450,000-kilowatt wind power project in Cheng'an County, a giant crane lifted its arm, preparing to precisely hoist a section of a wind turbine tower into place. This is the largest single new energy project under construction in the southern Hebei power grid, with 60 units of 7.5-megawatt wind turbines set to be connected to the grid for power generation by the end of June.
The same level of activity is evident at the CALB power battery base in the Handan Economic Development Zone. Tower cranes dot the construction site, transport vehicles shuttle back and forth, the main factory building has been capped, and workers are busy with cleanroom engineering work. This project, with a total investment of 10 billion yuan, is scheduled to officially commence production in September.
These two major projects, located in the north and south respectively, echo each other. Together, they signal a clear trend: emerging industries are rapidly gaining momentum across southern Hebei.
The data provides compelling evidence. In the first quarter of this year, the city's high-tech investment increased by 300.8% year-on-year, ranking first in the province for growth rate. High-tech investment accounted for 12.7% of total investment, placing third in the province, marking the best performance in nearly five years.
Inside the Huaneng Handan City-Level Virtual Power Plant Aggregation and Control Center at the Municipal Science and Innovation Center, data curves in red and green flicker in real-time on a large screen. Operators keep a close watch on the screen, monitoring changes in electricity load. While there are no rumbling generator sets here, the center manages 297.45 megawatts of power resources.
"A virtual power plant is not a physical power plant but an aggregation and intelligent management platform," explained Ma Yuanchi, Deputy Director of the Development Department at Huaneng Hebei Energy Sales Co., Ltd., pointing to the screen. By aggregating resources scattered throughout the city, such as enterprises, distributed photovoltaics, energy storage equipment, and charging piles, the virtual power plant can flexibly adjust enterprise electricity consumption. This allows it to "shave peaks" during grid peak hours and "fill valleys" during off-peak hours.
Why is a virtual power plant needed? The answer lies in the nature of new energy generation: it is clean and cost-effective but intermittent and volatile. When the sun sets or the wind stops, power output plummets. The virtual power plant acts as an "intelligent regulator" for the grid. When there is a surplus of power generation, it directs enterprises to increase consumption and instructs energy storage to charge. During periods of tight supply, it automatically reduces non-critical loads and releases stored energy to fill the gap.
Currently, the city's first batch of four virtual power plants has been completed and selected for Hebei Province's first pilot project list. Among them, the Huaneng Handan City-Level Virtual Power Plant, as the first city-level project in the southern Hebei grid, has established a functional system of "one center, three platforms" with an aggregated capacity of 297.45 megawatts. Efforts are fully underway to connect it to the provincial management platform.
"After the virtual power plant becomes operational, it is expected to reduce electricity costs for participating enterprises by 8% to 15%," calculated Cai Yunfeng, Director of the Electricity Office at the Municipal Development and Reform Commission. "This translates to significant annual savings for the involved companies. More importantly, the virtual power plant can consolidate scattered green power resources, maximizing the utility of every kilowatt-hour of clean electricity."
While the virtual power plant addresses the "how to regulate" question, effective regulation requires resources to manage. Energy storage equipment serves as the core "provisions" for this system.
At the CALB project site in the Handan Economic Development Zone, workers wearing safety helmets operate skillfully on scaffolding amidst a scene of intense activity. Project leader Shi Chunxiao stated, "The main structural work is complete. We are now proceeding with cleanroom construction and equipment installation. Formal production will begin in September."
This project, with a total investment of 10 billion yuan, covers 655 acres with a total construction area of 390,000 square meters. It primarily involves building electrode workshops, cell workshops, integration workshops, and PACK workshops. Upon completion, it will have an annual production capacity of 51 gigawatt-hours of power batteries and energy storage batteries. Annual operating revenue is projected to exceed 10 billion yuan, creating over 2,500 new jobs.
CALB is a globally leading new energy battery enterprise, ranked third in China and fourth worldwide. Two flagship products were showcased: the 324 series battery, designed for heavy-duty trucks with a cycle life of 4,500 times and a 15-year/1.5-million-kilometer warranty; and the 588 series battery for energy storage applications, boasting a cycle life exceeding 10,000 cycles. The project will also integrate an SPC database and AI deep learning, combined with 100% logistics automation and direct green power connection, aiming to establish a world-leading intelligent zero-carbon factory.
From green power generation at the 450,000-kilowatt wind project in Cheng'an, to energy storage batteries at CALB, and intelligent dispatch via the virtual power plant, a complete "production-storage-dispatch" new energy industry chain is taking shape.
New energy is reshaping the city's energy structure. Meanwhile, on another front—the intelligent and green transformation of traditional industries—significant acceleration is also evident.
Inside the production workshop of Cheng'an Henggong Precision Equipment Co., Ltd., a modern industrial atmosphere prevails. Over 1,500 sets of high-precision CNC machining equipment are neatly arranged. Green indicator lights flash in rows, robotic arms load and unload materials rhythmically, and a few technicians monitor the operational status of each machine in real-time via large system screens.
Starting from continuous cast iron materials, Henggong Precision has successfully entered the market for core components of humanoid robots. The company's products achieve machining precision at the micron level, equivalent to one-sixtieth the diameter of a human hair. Once the new plant area is fully operational, it will enable an annual output of 100,000 tons of castings and 5 million precision parts.
In January this year, Henggong Precision entered a strategic partnership with TusStar to jointly build an embodied intelligent industry collaboration platform. Currently, the company has launched a full-size humanoid robot and a series of quadruped robotic dog products, with an annual production capacity of 1,000 units for its robot production line. This exemplifies the dynamic practice of the "Beijing R&D, Hebei Transformation" industrial collaboration model.
A similarly impressive upgrade story unfolds in the biopharmaceutical sector. In the production workshop of Handan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., an AI color-sorting visual recognition device operates at high speed. This traditional Chinese medicine enterprise, with decades of history, has completely moved away from its past reliance on high manual labor and unstable processes. The full deployment of automated control systems and a LIMS information-based laboratory management system has enabled comprehensive quality control from raw material入库 to finished product shipment.
Even more noteworthy is this traditional pharmaceutical company's cross-sector venture into the health food industry under the concept of "medicine and food sharing the same origin." Its newly established health food brand, "Xiaotian," has successfully developed over ten types of health beverages.
From Henggong Precision's vertical extension along the "materials-components-complete machines" chain to Handan Pharmaceutical's horizontal expansion from "pharmaceuticals to health foods," the underlying logic is the same: leveraging existing industrial foundations and technological积累 to ascend towards higher-value segments of the industrial chain.
"The industrial ecosystem continues to optimize, and emerging industries are developing with strong momentum," said Shen Lu, Section Chief of Innovation and High-Tech Development at the Municipal Development and Reform Commission. The "Six Major Projects" provide full lifecycle services for emerging industries. In the first quarter, the added value of the city's high-tech industries increased by 9.5% year-on-year, 1.7 percentage points higher than the provincial average.
From the rotating turbines of wind farms to the data-flickering screens of virtual power plants; from the precise machining of robot joints to AI-driven traditional medicine production lines—Handan, this historic industrial city, is accelerating along its transformation path with clear industrial chain thinking and solid project support.
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