State Grid, China Southern Grid Post Record H1 Investment

State Grid Corp of China completed fixed-asset investment of more than RMB 310 billion in the first half of 2026, up 12.6% year on year. Among the projects, 15 ultra-high-voltage transmission lines and 37 pumped-storage hydroelectric power stations were accelerated. China Southern Power Grid Co. completed fixed-asset investment of nearly RMB 89.3 billion in the same period, up 14.79% year on year, a record for the period, and equivalent to 49.59% of its full-year investment target of RMB 180 billion.

Du Zhongming, head of the Electric Power Department of the National Energy Administration, said the administration is accelerating the formulation of an implementation plan for building a new-type power grid, with national grid fixed-asset investment expected to exceed RMB 5 trillion during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030). Inner Mongolia Power (Group) Co. plans fixed-asset investment of more than RMB 200 billion over the same period.

As of end-June 2026, the country's cumulative installed power generation capacity reached 4.04 billion kilowatts, up 10.8% year on year. In the State Grid service area, grid-connected installed capacity of new energy reached 1.55 billion kilowatts.

Global electricity demand is projected to grow 3.6% in 2026 and 3.8% in 2027, both above the 3% growth in 2025.

In the A-share market, as of July 24, 141 power grid equipment companies had an average decline of more than 6% since the start of 2026. Twenty-two companies posted cumulative gains of more than 10%, of which 10 rose more than 50%, including Huashengchang, Hangdian Co. , and Yuandong Co. Yuandong's cumulative gain exceeded 80%, with first-half battery energy storage and related business contract orders of RMB 3.521 billion or more, up 262.14% year on year.

As of July 23, margin financing balances of power grid equipment companies totaled nearly RMB 41.3 billion, up more than 7.5% from end-2025. Thirty-eight companies saw margin balances rise more than 10% from end-2025, with Guangge Technology up more than 600%. Among them, 16 companies had margin balance increases of more than 10% and at least 10 institutional research visits since the start of 2026. By number of research visits, the top companies included Huaming Equipment, Nanwang Technology, Sieyuan Electric, and Dongfang Electronics. Huaming Equipment received more than 240 institutional visits since the start of 2026, with margin balances up more than 88% from end-2025. Dongfang Electronics received 55 institutional visits, with margin balances up more than 26% from end-2025. As of July 24, these 16 companies had an average gain of about 4% since the start of 2026.