[Today in Zhenhai] Vigorous Vines Yield Fine Sweet Potatoes: Zhenhai Enterprises’ Investment Project in Hubei Opens and Begins Production

This newspaper reports (by reporters Zhang Chaoliang and Pan Zhijie, and correspondent Le Qianqian):

Haiyue (Hubei) Electric Co., Ltd., located in the Xiaochang Economic Development Zone of Hubei Province, recently commenced operations on its project to produce 15,000 sets of smart power equipment annually.

As a key project of Xiaogan City in Hubei Province, this initiative is invested and developed by Ningbo Haiyue Electrical Appliance Manufacturing Co., Ltd., a company based in Luotuo Subdistrict, with a total investment of RMB 500 million. The project will primarily manufacture intelligent power equipment such as high- and low-voltage switchgear, photovoltaic inverters, and electric vehicle charging stations, and is expected to achieve an annual output value of RMB 2 billion.

The photo shows robots on the production line at Haiyue (Hubei).

In March 2022, Ningbo Haiyue unveiled an investment plan. Hubei Province is renowned as the “crossroads of nine provinces,” and Xiaochang enjoys a distinct geographical advantage. “By centering our operations in Xiaochang, we can reduce logistics costs while more easily extending our products and services to partners across multiple provinces—including Hubei, Guangxi, Sichuan, and Shaanxi—thereby accelerating our service response times and enabling us to align more closely with our partners’ needs and goals,” said Zhang Dongfang, Chairman of Haiyue (Hubei) Electric Co., Ltd., as he outlined the company’s strategic vision for growth.

Over the past 30 years, Ningbo Haiyue has persevered and forged ahead, growing in Luotuo Subdistrict into a robust, manufacturing-oriented enterprise specializing in the production of complete sets of power equipment. It has become a trusted partner to leading companies such as State Grid Corporation of China, Sinopec, and Geely Holding Group, with its products now exported beyond China’s borders—breaking into Asia and reaching markets across Africa. In 2023, Ningbo Haiyue’s sales surpassed RMB 300 million. By fostering greater resilience, dynamism, and competitiveness in its development, Ningbo Haiyue’s goals align seamlessly with the “sweet potato economy” philosophy.

In recent years, Xiaochang has vigorously promoted the clustered development of a hundred-billion-yuan-level electromechanical industry. “When we learned that Ningbo Haiyue had chosen Xiaochang for investment, we were not immediately overjoyed, as we worried it might not align with our own investment attraction objectives. So we promptly dispatched a delegation to Zhenhai for an on-site inspection,” recalled Luo Yunqiang, Director of the Xiaochang County Bureau of Commerce (Investment Promotion).

Following a fact-finding visit, the Xiaochang delegation concluded that Ningbo Haiyue, as a leading enterprise in the Ningbo Electrical and Mechanical Industry Association, can better leverage its role as a trailblazer by investing in this project in Xiaochang, thereby providing strong impetus for the high-quality development of Xiaochang’s electromechanical industry cluster.

It took only 11 months from groundbreaking to commissioning, setting a new “Xiaochang Speed” for the Haiyue (Hubei) project in the local area. “We handled all the administrative procedures required for the construction of the Haiyue (Hubei) project throughout the entire process, and leaders from the park’s Party and administrative leadership team were stationed on-site to coordinate and resolve any challenges encountered during construction. Focusing on extending, supplementing, and strengthening the industrial chain, we have helped Haiyue (Hubei) actively collaborate with key local electromechanical enterprises such as Dayang Motor, Huiyang Electrical Appliances, and Hengchang Electric, thereby achieving precise integration into the industrial cluster, realizing win-win cooperation, and generating sustained momentum,” said Zhao Shengjia, Secretary of the Party Working Committee and Director of the Management Committee of the Xiaochang Economic Development Zone.

Zhang Leiming, Chairman of Ningbo Haiyue, stated that the company is leveraging the robust momentum of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and drawing on the talent pool of Wuhan—a major hub for higher education—to extend the “sweet potato economy” from the shores of the East China Sea all the way to the land of Jingchu, thereby precisely bolstering the “tubers” rooted in Luotuo Subdistrict and making them even stronger and more substantial.