According to EnergyTrend, the Hubei Provincial Development and Reform Commission has recently issued successive energy saving review approvals for three lithium ion battery manufacturing projects of CORNEX, located in Wuhan, Yichang and Xiaogan respectively, with a total newly planned production capacity of 290 GWh.
On April 29, the Hubei Provincial Development and Reform Commission first released the Approval on Energy Saving Review for the 90 GWh Lithium ion Battery Manufacturing Project of Wuhan CORNEX New Energy Co., Ltd., granting conditional approval to the project’s energy saving report. Per the official approval document, the Wuhan project is designed with an annual lithium ion battery capacity of 90 GWh, covering power batteries and energy storage batteries, with supporting production lines for cells, PACK and system integration.
On May 19, the commission issued two more approvals on the same day for projects in Yichang and Xiaogan. The Yichang high end intelligent manufacturing project for new type lithium batteries plans an annual capacity of 100 GWh for power and energy storage batteries. It will construct production workshops for cells, PACK, energy storage and power systems, as well as new production lines for drone batteries, robot batteries, semi solid state and solid state batteries, covering the full industrial chain from cells and modules/PACK to system integration.
The concurrently approved Xiaogan high end intelligent manufacturing project for new generation lithium batteries also features a planned capacity of 100 GWh, focusing on power and energy storage batteries, with supporting construction of special purpose and new type battery production lines.
As analyzed by EnergyTrend, as of May 2026, CORNEX has four manufacturing bases in Hubei: Wuhan, Yichang, Xiaogan and Xiangyang. The four bases boast an operational effective capacity of 110 GWh, with ongoing and planned capacity totaling 390 GWh, bringing the overall planned capacity to 500 GWh. Breakdown is as follows:
- Wuhan Base: existing operational capacity of 10 GWh; total planned capacity of 100 GWh after adding the newly approved 90 GWh project.
- Yichang Base: existing operational capacity of 65 GWh; total planned capacity rising to 165 GWh with the additional 100 GWh planned capacity.
- Xiaogan Base: existing operational capacity of 35 GWh; total planned capacity reaching 135 GWh following the 100 GWh capacity expansion.
- Xiangyang Base: Phase I planned capacity of 70 GWh (50 GWh for energy storage batteries and 20 GWh for power batteries), plus Phase II planned 30 GWh energy storage batteries, currently under construction.
In terms of strategic layout, CORNEX’s new battery projects include both power and energy storage capacity, alongside investments in cutting edge battery technologies such as semi solid state and solid state batteries.
EnergyTrend notes that the newly planned capacity caters to robust growth in the energy storage market, while the deployment of emerging technologies reserves room for future battery technology upgrades.
Source：EnergyTrend
