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According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, on April 7th, at the China Refrigeration Exhibition, Midea Group, Haier Zhijia, Gree Electric Appliances and other home appliance technology comprehensive manufacturing enterprises announced their efforts in energy storage and thermal management industries. The new energy storage field has become an important part of the diversified business of multiple home appliance giants.

What are the roles and challenges of cross-border manufacturing enterprises in the period when new energy storage ushers in large-scale commercial development?

Why do home appliance giants favor new energy storage?

In recent years, home appliance giants and component companies have expanded into fields such as automotive thermal management and IDC thermal management, laying out new energy storage markets.

This time, Midea Group announced that its subsidiary Midea Building Technology has officially released multiple energy storage and thermal management products, including 8kW plug-in platform, 20/40kW side outlet platform, 40kW top outlet platform, etc. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

Luo Mingwen, Director of the R&D Center of Midea Building Technology Water Machinery Products Company, stated that Midea Group has chosen liquid cooling as its energy storage and heat management technology route. At present, the thermal management of energy storage is mainly divided into two technical routes: one is the air cooling mode mainly based on air conditioning and duct cooling; The second is a liquid cooling technology that uses cooling liquids such as water, ethylene glycol, and silicone oil for heat dissipation. Based on its broad market prospects and the years of temperature control experience and system integration capabilities established by Midea Group, the new type of energy storage liquid cooling will become a new business growth point for the company.

Midea Group entered the energy storage field through the acquisition of Kelu Electronics. This time, Midea Group's actions can be said to be the expansion and improvement of energy storage products and business lines. At this point, its energy storage products have covered energy storage batteries, energy storage thermal management, integrated solutions for optical, thermal, and flexible energy storage, and the industrial chain is gradually improving, indicating that its layout in the energy storage field has been relatively deep. "Hu Hongsen, founder of Sen Technology, told reporters.

Not only Midea Group, but also home appliance giants such as Gree Electric Appliances, Haier Zhijia, and Sichuan Changhong have entered this market, using energy and intelligent building products as carriers to enter the energy storage market. Gree Electric Appliances accelerates the construction of an industrial ecosystem of "photovoltaic+energy storage+air conditioning" after controlling Gree Titanium; Haier Zhijia has launched the industry's first intelligent low-carbon "building brain" in the relevant industry chain, integrating systems such as HVAC, energy, and building centralized control; Sichuan Changhong is making efforts in energy fields such as new sodium ion battery systems.

So, why has the energy storage market become a "hot spot" for home appliance giants to compete for?

It is understood that after the issuance of the "Implementation Plan for the Development of New Energy Storage during the 14th Five Year Plan", China's new energy storage has entered a period of rapid development. According to the agency CNESA, it is expected that by 2025, the installed capacity of new energy storage in China will exceed 50GW. The energy storage industry chain covers multiple sub sectors such as HVAC and temperature control, power industry, and electromechanical automation industry, and is developing in collaboration with HVAC and intelligent buildings. At the same time, household appliances such as air conditioners are "big players" in energy consumption, and energy storage can play a peak shaving role for the energy system, attracting leading companies such as Midea Group and Haier Zhijia to improve the layout of the industrial chain.

Under the development wave of green new energy, the application of new energy has gradually enriched, involving fields such as electric energy storage, transportation, and new energy vehicles, and the application field is constantly expanding. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

Faced with fierce market competition and the phenomenon of market demand becoming saturated, home appliance giants are also actively considering the issue of transformation and development.

Lin Boqiang, Dean of the China Energy Policy Research Institute at Xiamen University, told reporters that the new energy storage market is in the stage of development, with huge market potential to attract enterprises to cross border. Home appliance manufacturing enterprises have advantages in technology foundation, manufacturing foundation, and components, and their large-scale entry meets the expectations.

At present, the new energy storage industry is growing rapidly, and Midea Group is optimistic about this market prospect. With the entry of large enterprises, the segmented industry pattern may change, and further improve safety and unified standards. "Hu Hongtu, Sales Director of Midea Building Technology Energy Storage Thermal Management, told reporters.

Industry moving from initial stage to scale

With the further development of technology, there are more and more players in the industry, and the new energy storage industry is also moving from the initial stage of development to the stage of scale. In this process, it remains a challenge for home appliance enterprises to create differentiated competitiveness in the photovoltaic and energy storage fields, and achieve synergy with existing HVAC, data centers, and thermal storage and flexible businesses.

According to the China New Energy Storage Development Report 2023, China's new energy storage is still in its early stages of development, and there are significant differences in the maturity of the industry chain corresponding to different technological routes for new energy storage. At present, the industry is gradually transitioning towards a large-scale commercial stage, and Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

Luo Mingwen told reporters that currently, the path of thermal management technology in the new energy storage field is relatively clear, but the industry has a relatively short development time, and there are still many non-standard and non-standard phenomena, uneven levels of enterprise level, and frequent safety accidents. Midea Group has entered this race track, considering annual energy efficiency in its technology development process and continuously improving the industry chain. It aims to become an industry integrator and further drive market regulation. Currently, it is also in communication with the standard formulation authorities to further promote the improvement of industry standards.

Hu Hongsen believes that for comprehensive enterprises such as Midea Group and Haier Zhijia, they have shed the label of home appliances and switched to the energy storage thermal management market, which is an important manifestation of fully entering the energy storage industry chain. The acquisition of Hekang Xinneng and Kelu Electronics by Midea Group aims to enter the energy storage industry and build the underlying structure. It also demonstrates a strong driving force for diversified business through resource integration through its building technology business unit. It can be seen that Chinese home appliance manufacturing giants have taken firm steps in accelerating industrial transformation, upgrading, and high-quality development. They are no longer followers or participants, but active promoters of the blue ocean market of energy storage, as reported by Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation.