Key new energy industrial park crosses infrastructure milestone ahead of schedule
One of Yichang’s major new energy battery industrial parks recently crossed a construction milestone nearly one month ahead of schedule.
At 4 pm on November 17, the last prefabricated column of Phase I of the Chuneng New Energy (Yichang) Lithium Battery Industrial Park was put in place. Taking 61 days, the installation of 972 columns was completed one month ahead of schedule.
For “Chuneng” in the park’s name, “Chu” comes from the Chu State (c. 1030 – 223 BC) where Hubei Province was located in ancient China; “Neng” refers to “energy” in Chinese.
The park, which focuses on new energy battery manufacturing, has a total planned investment of 60 billion yuan (US$8.39 billion). When its four phases are completed and the factories inside begin to operate in full swing, the park is expected to generate an annual output value of 105 billion yuan and tax revenue of 6 billion yuan, as well as create 20,000 new jobs for the area.
Liu Yang, who is the engineering head of the park project, stated: “We have divided the first phase into four areas, and all of them are under construction. The first plant is about to be fully capped, with 90 percent of its steel structures completed; the steel structure of the second plant is 50 percent complete, while the main body of the third and fourth plants are 80 percent completed.”
“We will continue to add more workers and equipment to ensure all plants are capped off before December 30,” Liu said.
Workers hoisting prefabricated columns into position at the park.
To accelerate the project, the construction company needs to drill 1,600 pile holes in advance, each about 20 to 30 meters deep, and complete the concrete pouring.
Wu Xin, the production manager of the Yichang Chuneng Project of the First Company of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau, said: "We have to complete more than 100 piles every day. In addition, it is a great challenge to pour 1,700-1,800 cubic meters of concrete a day. We have arranged more than 2,000 workers to work in two shifts and put 16 rotary drilling rigs into operation 24 hours a day."
Plants in Phase I of the park are expected to start trial production by March 30, 2023, with full operation beginning by June 30, 2023.
An aerial view of the Chuneng New Energy (Yichang) Lithium Battery Industrial Park under construction
