New Energy Drives Transformation, New Materials Strengthen Foundations, and During the 14th Five-Year Plan, the installed capacity of new energy will exceed 50%

This article focuses on the new energy and new materials industries, highlighting key investment opportunities during the 14th Five-Year Plan period under the context of deep integration of energy green transformation and new industrialization.

As the core carriers of new quality productivity, new energy and new materials are critical supports for China to promote energy green transformation and strengthen the foundation of new industrialization during the 14th Five-Year Plan. Currently, China leads the world in energy green transformation, with the scale of the new materials industry ranking first globally. The coordinated efforts of these two industries are injecting strong momentum into building an energy powerhouse and cultivating new quality productivity.

“During the 14th Five-Year Plan, the proportion of new energy installed capacity will exceed 50%”

China has achieved a series of landmark results in energy green transformation. During the 14th Five-Year Plan, the new energy industry will shift from “quantitative accumulation” to “qualitative leap,” focusing on building a new power system centered on new energy, laying a solid foundation for a safe, efficient, and green energy powerhouse. In this transformation, the iteration and upgrading of advanced storage materials, photovoltaic silicon materials, and other new materials will become important supports for improving quality and efficiency in the new energy industry.

The 2026 government work report states that a national energy development plan will be formulated. Efforts will be made to build a new power system, accelerate smart grid construction, develop new storage solutions, and expand green electricity applications. The clean and efficient use of fossil energy will also be strengthened.

Recently, the National Energy Administration’s Department of New Energy and Renewable Energy published an article titled “Promoting the Expansion and Quality Improvement of Renewable Energy During the 14th Five-Year Plan, Reliable Substitution,” which states that efforts will be made to expand and improve the quality of renewable energy during the 14th Five-Year Plan, with the goal of achieving a total installed capacity of 3.6 billion kilowatts for wind and solar power by 2035, contributing independently. The proportion of new energy installed capacity during the 14th Five-Year Plan will exceed 50%, becoming the main component of power installations. The National Energy Administration has set clear development goals for the new energy industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan, providing a clear direction and strong guarantee for sustained rapid growth.

A solid industrial foundation supports this grand vision. By the end of 2025, the cumulative installed capacity of wind and solar power grids will reach 1.84 billion kilowatts, accounting for 47.3%, surpassing coal-fired power for the first time in history. Compared to the 2035 target of 3.6 billion kilowatts set by the National Energy Administration, wind and solar power capacity still have nearly double growth potential over the next decade.

Accelerated Construction of New Power Grid Platforms

The rapid growth of new energy installations in China demands higher grid capacity and allocation capabilities. To meet this, State Grid Corporation will further increase investment during the 14th Five-Year Plan, fully supporting high-quality development of new energy.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan, State Grid’s fixed asset investment is expected to reach 4 trillion yuan, a 40% increase over the 14th Five-Year Plan. Focused on serving new energy development, State Grid has announced ten specific measures, clearly prioritizing the 4 trillion yuan investment. To enhance grid resource allocation, investments in the grid will be increased, and construction of all levels of the grid will be strengthened. Efforts will be made to bring into operation 15 ultra-high-voltage direct current projects planned earlier, and inter-provincial transmission capacity will be increased by 35%. To improve new energy hosting capacity, continued investment in distribution networks will increase capacity by over 900 million kVA.

The upgrade of distribution networks will also require new conductive and insulating materials, providing additional growth space for the new materials industry.

Expanding Renewable Energy Utilization through Non-Electric Consumption

Grid upgrades effectively address hardware bottlenecks in renewable energy absorption, while non-electric consumption further expands green electricity application scenarios, becoming an important direction for current industry development.

Non-electric consumption of renewable energy aims to convert green electricity (such as wind and solar power) into non-electric energy or chemical products like hydrogen, ammonia, and methanol, solving the difficulty of absorbing renewable electricity and promoting decarbonization in industries like transportation and manufacturing.

In October 2025, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the “Minimum Renewable Energy Consumption Ratio and Renewable Energy Power Consumption Responsibility Implementation Measures (Draft for Comments),” which clearly defines two categories: minimum renewable energy power consumption ratio and minimum non-electric renewable energy consumption ratio. This marks the first time that non-electric renewable energy consumption ratios are included in national assessments.

China’s green hydrogen, ammonia, and alcohol industry is developing rapidly. According to the database of the Hydrogen Energy Branch of the China Industry Development Promotion Association, by the end of 2025, China has planned or constructed about 900 green hydrogen and ammonia projects (including signing, announcement, filing, start-up, and completion stages), with a total capacity of nearly 10 million tons per year (hydrogen equivalent). The total capacity of completed projects is about 290,000 tons per year, ranking first globally.

According to Securities Times Data Treasure, over 100 listed companies in the A-share market belong to the new energy industry. Since the beginning of the year, 24 stocks have attracted attention from 10 or more institutions. Among them, Dajin Heavy Industry and Tianshun Wind Power, both wind power concept stocks, have been the most frequently researched, with 318 and 237 institutions respectively.

Dajin Heavy Industry stated during research that the company is not only a core manufacturer of offshore wind equipment but also a provider of comprehensive offshore engineering services, having extended its industrial chain to offer services such as transportation, port, and installation to downstream clients.

Policy Empowerment Drives Global Leadership in New Materials Industry

The vigorous development of the new energy industry has created broad demand for the new materials industry. Both industries share policy dividends and are key strategic emerging industries cultivated by the state. The government has successively issued policies such as the “Guidelines for the Development of the New Materials Industry,” the “14th Five-Year Plan for Raw Material Industry Development,” and the “Action Plan for Standardization to Lead Raw Material Industry Optimization and Upgrading (2025–2027),” promoting high-quality industry development.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in 2024, China’s total output value of the new materials industry reached 8.7 trillion yuan, a 73% increase over the “13th Five-Year Plan” period, maintaining double-digit growth for 14 consecutive years. Key materials such as rare earth functional materials, advanced energy storage materials, and superhard materials rank among the top globally.

The Ministry has already promoted over 55 billion yuan worth of new materials products into the market. Moving forward, efforts will focus on meeting practical needs in key application fields, leading industry development through material innovation, and advancing the entire supply chain of advanced materials, strategic key materials, frontier new materials, and “AI + materials.” Policies, funding, talent, and resource support will be coordinated to create a favorable ecosystem for R&D and application of new materials, fully enhancing innovation capacity and development efficiency.

Robust Growth of the New Materials Industry

China’s new materials enterprises are continuously strengthening, with an increasingly complete industrial ecosystem. Driven by demand from the new energy sector, corporate innovation vitality remains high. Currently, there are over 20,000 large-scale enterprises in the industry, cultivating a large number of specialized, innovative “Little Giant” enterprises.

In the capital market, 302 listed companies in the strategic emerging industries of the A-share market belong to the new materials sector, with a total market value exceeding 3 trillion yuan. Among these, 194 companies are recognized as “Little Giants,” accounting for over 60%.

In terms of performance, the “Little Giant” listed companies in the new materials industry have shown strong growth. Their combined revenue increased from 148.017 billion yuan in 2020 to 270.427 billion yuan in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 16.26%, significantly higher than the overall industrial growth rate during the same period.

According to Data Treasure, among the 194 “Little Giant” listed companies in the new materials industry, 132 have released 2025 performance forecasts or earnings reports. Based on net profit in the earnings reports or the lower limit of forecasted net profit, 40 companies are expected to see year-on-year growth, 12 are expected to turn losses into profits, and 8 are expected to reduce losses. Hongyu Packaging, Nanya New Materials, and Jujiao Co., Ltd. project net profit increases of over 100%.

Hongyu Packaging expects the highest growth, with an estimated net profit attributable to parent company of 18.4343 million yuan in 2025, a 396.55% increase. According to company announcements, the company focuses on R&D, production, and sales of plastic printed films (bags), food-grade injection containers, and new packaging materials, with high-barrier aluminum foil composite films and bags recognized as “Hubei Boutique” in the first half of 2025.

(Source: Data Treasure)