State Power Investment Plans 33.394 Billion Yuan Hydropower Venture With CATL

State Power Investment said on July 20 that its controlling subsidiary Yalong River Hydropower plans to set up a project company with CATL to build the Yagen II hydropower station. The project has a dynamic total investment of 33.394 billion yuan, registered capital of 6.679 billion yuan, installed capacity of 2.4 million kilowatts, expected annual output of about 8.645 billion kWh, a construction period of 101 months, and the first unit is expected to start operating in 2035, according to Jiemian News. Shanghai Electric said on July 20 that it expects first-half 2026 net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company to rise 12% to 22% year on year to 920 million yuan to 1 billion yuan. The company said profit growth was driven mainly by improved operations in some core business segments, as well as non-recurring gains from government subsidies and equity disposals at some subsidiaries. Hangzhou Cable said it plans to raise up to 2.88 billion yuan in a private placement to no more than 35 specific investors, with the new shares accounting for no more than 30% of its pre-issue total share capital. After issuance costs, the proceeds will be used for an optical fiber preform, quartz substrate and new fiber R&D and manufacturing super-factory project, and a 30,000-ton-a-year high-end copper foil project for AI applications. Huayou Cobalt plans to buy back between 600 million yuan and 1 billion yuan of its shares at no more than 50 yuan per share. The company said the repurchased shares will be used to safeguard corporate value and shareholder interests, with the buyback to be completed within three months of board approval. Putailai said its first-half 2026 net profit is expected to rise 32.66% to 42.14% year on year to 1.4 billion yuan to 1.5 billion yuan. The company said demand from electric vehicles and energy storage continued to expand globally, while exports of EV, storage and battery-related products grew rapidly and tight upstream supply supported higher shipment volumes, according to Jiemian News. China's National Energy Administration said it aims to build a batch of village and township microgrid pilot projects nationwide by the end of 2028. By then, pilot areas should have basically established clean energy supply systems, sound management systems for operations, safety and quality, and mature new technologies, business models and formats; by the end of 2030, the pilot experience and models should be effectively applied in rural areas, according to Jiemian News. Capital Economics said Brent crude could rise to $150 a barrel if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, after initially climbing to $120 in a worse-case scenario. It also said European natural gas could rise from about 54 euros per megawatt hour to 90 euros, according to Jiemian News. The U.S. Energy Department said strategic petroleum reserve crude inventories fell by about 5.1 million barrels last week to 311.4 million barrels, the lowest since March 1983, according to Jiemian News. Morgan Stanley said Europe is facing severe diesel supply tightness, with northwest European diesel refining margins hitting a record high and inventories expected to keep falling from August to about 299 million barrels in November, the lowest level for the period since 2015, according to Jiemian News.