When the Yangtze River emerges from the Three Gorges, the water suddenly calms down. Yichang is guarding this gentle place, guarding the two world-class water conservancy projects of Gezhouba and Three Gorges. There are 454 hydropower stations and 27.79 million kilowatts of hydropower installed capacity. 1 kilowatt hour of every 10 kilowatt hours of hydropower in the country is generated here. It was here that in April 2018, the symposium on promoting the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt set the rule of "jointly focusing on large-scale protection and not engaging in large-scale development." A city that prospered because of water will have to re-answer what it depends on for food while protecting the clear water of the river.
This question is not easy. Yichang's industrial infrastructure has long been dominated by phosphate rock and fine chemicals. Phosphate rock reserves are 4.317 billion tons, accounting for 56% of the province and 15% of the country. Resources are family assets and path dependence. The eight years of "customs reform and relocation" of 134 chemical companies along the Yangtze River were a difficult eight years for Yichang, and a large chunk of GDP was once squeezed out. But it was precisely this pushback that made Yichang understand one thing: phosphate rock cannot be sold just as ore, it is also the precursor of lithium iron phosphate. The most precious cathode material of an energy storage power station is traced back to the source, which is the black and white stone under your feet.
Once this level is figured out, the way the industry moves will completely change. In the past, it was dug out, ground into powder, and shipped on ships. Earning a ton of ore was hard-earned money. Now it is on-site conversion, the ore is turned into phosphoric acid, iron phosphate, lithium iron phosphate, and battery cells, and the remaining used batteries are recycled and regenerated. Yichang summarizes this chain into five words: "ore, material, core, storage and collection". The city has a production capacity of 1.57 million tons of iron phosphate, 680,000 tons of lithium iron phosphate, and over 300GWh of new energy batteries under construction or completed. One of every four lithium iron phosphate batteries in the country is labeled "Made in Yichang". The same stone is sold several times in different stages, and the added value is retained locally layer by layer.
The brightest link on the chain is located in Yiling District. The first phase of Chuneng New Energy Yichang Base will start construction in August 2022 and be put into production in August 2023, releasing a production capacity of 65GWh. The second phase has a total investment of 22 billion yuan and a plan of 80GWh. When put into operation in August 2026, the total production capacity will reach 150GWh, making it one of the lithium battery production bases with the largest single unit production capacity in the world. After full production, the average daily battery cell output will be more than 800,000. Walking into the workshop, the automated production line operates continuously in a dust-free environment. These cells are not only put into cars, but also into boats. Yichang specially made 320Ah ship-specific batteries for the "Electrified Yangtze River", which has a lifespan of more than 20 years and can withstand the humidity of the river and high-frequency charging and discharging. The world's largest pure electric tourist ship "Yangtze Three Gorges 1" and the world's first 10,000-ton pure electric transport ship "Gezhouba" use this type of "Made in Yichang". The city’s new energy ship orders account for more than 90%.
Whether this stone can be turned into an industry depends on the journey back to the source. The DRT directional recycling technology independently developed by Bump Cycle has a recovery rate of 99.6% for nickel, cobalt and manganese, 96.5% for lithium, and over 90% for iron phosphorus. Used batteries can be turned into materials again in as fast as 7 days. In layman's terms, one out of every five used power batteries in the country is "reborn" in Yichang. This step is about more than just saving money. There are no lithium mines in Yichang. Raising the lithium recycling rate to 96.5% is equivalent to building an invisible "urban lithium mine" on the edge of the Yangtze River. Resource-based cities are most afraid of people leaving after the resources are mined. The circular path allows resources to circulate around the city, and it still costs money to move around once.
The success of all this depends on more than just resources. Yichang is located at the junction of the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, with 232 kilometers of Yangtze River coastline. It is a national comprehensive transportation hub and a port-type national logistics hub, connecting Chengdu and Chongqing to the west and the Yangtze River Delta to the east. Energy storage materials are heavy, bulky, and have long transportation distances. What is saved in logistics is profit. What's more critical is the "partition wall supply". The iron phosphate comes out of this pipeline and enters the next door workshop as the raw material for lithium iron phosphate. Bangpu, Envision Power, Chuneng, Xinwangda, Xingfa, and Yihua have successively invested heavily in Yichang, and the five main material links of positive electrode, negative electrode, separator, electrolyte, and current collector are all guarded. In the first quarter of this year, the output value of the city's 67 new energy and new materials regulated enterprises increased by 49.5% year-on-year. The number of enterprises only accounted for 4.4% of the city's industry, but they contributed 18.7% of the total industrial output value. Transformation is not about throwing away old industries and replacing them with new ones, but about letting the old foundation grow new branches.
The most valuable reference for similar cities in Yichang over the past eight years is that it has not started a new one. Many resource-based cities are in the habit of getting rid of old industries as burdens during their transformation and attracting new projects from scratch on vacant land. As a result, they lose both ends. Yichang allows phosphorus chemical equipment, talents, and pipeline networks to be directly connected to the new track, and uses new materials grown in old factories to knock on the door of new energy. This road is slower but steady. It proves that traditional industries are not the opposite of transformation, but are precisely the thickest stepping stone for transformation. At present, Yichang's goal has been from "hydropower capital" and "clean energy capital" to "global energy storage capital". There are still hurdles ahead. There are still gaps in silicon-carbon anodes, separators, and lithium battery equipment, and skilled technicians cannot keep up with the expansion of production capacity. But the direction is clear, a river of clear water flows eastward, a stone turns around in the city, and what emerges is a new way of living in the city.
