According to sources in the business and government, two Chinese manufacturers of energy storage devices and batteries are considering making hundreds of millions of dollars in investments in Vietnam.
According to one individual with firsthand knowledge of the conversations, the total worth of the investments may surpass $1 billion.
Due to its extensive free trade agreements and inexpensive labor, Vietnam has become a major export hub for Chinese businesses, and an increasing number of them are starting or expanding manufacturing enterprises there.
Xiamen Hithium Energy Storage Technology, a company that is growing in Europe and the United States, has approached government representatives and business executives in Vietnam about the possibility of investing up to $900 million to construct a factory on over thirty hectares of land for industrial use. The corporation would rank among the biggest investors from abroad in Vietnam if the investment is finalized at that sum.
The investment under consideration, according to another source familiar with the conversations, would be valued at least $500 million.
The sources declined to give their names since they were not authorized to speak to the media.
According to a statement by Hithium, a company based in the port city of Xiamen in the southeast, there are no fresh deals in the process of finalizing. Additionally, it stated that by the end of this year, it hopes to increase its current manufacturing capacity of 15 GW to 70 GW.
The initial source claims that Growatt New Energy, which leases a prefabricated plant in Vietnam, plans to invest nearly $300 million to buy roughly 15 hectares of land for industrial use on which to build a new facility.
Requests for comment were not answered by Growatt, a company that manufactures energy storage inverters and battery systems for both residential and business use.
According to the sources, both businesses are negotiating potential factory locations with a number of governments and industrial parks.
As its developing economy struggles with frequent power outages brought on by rising demand, climate change, and an inadequate power grid, Vietnam is also becoming a big market for renewable energy. However, legislation allowing the deployment of energy storage devices to bolster its power network has not yet been passed.
Hithium, which does not currently have a base in Vietnam, is an industry leader in producing stationary energy storage things, such as cells and bigger containers that aid in managing the erratic energy supply from wind or solar farms.
According to Precedence Research, the value of the worldwide stationary energy storage industry is predicted to increase by nearly $224 billion by the end of this decade from slightly more than $31 billion in 2021. Panasonic (6752.T), Tesla (TSLA.O) and Philips (PHG.AS) are three of the industry's leading businesses.