As domestic energy storage companies fiercely compete in the medium-temperature market, Hong Kong-listed HC TECH GP (01116) has quietly established a collaborative bridge of "international technology + local production capacity." Recently, through its subsidiary Guangzhou Meiya, it reached a deep strategic cooperation with Environmental Process Systems Limited (EPS), a leader in international phase change energy storage technology. EPS has taken a 30% stake in the Group's subsidiary "Meiya Technology," bringing in core patented technology that covers a temperature range from -100℃ to 885℃. This partnership opens a differentiated global path amid the dual challenges of "technological saturation" and "overcapacity" in the energy storage industry.

Technology Insights: EPS's Full-Temperature Patents Build a Barrier, Six Core Areas Proven by Case Studies As an international leader in phase change energy storage technology, EPS's collaboration involves five core patented technologies applicable to sectors such as agriculture, commercial environments, and industrial fields. These include chilled water air conditioning systems, passive cooling, heating applications, cold storage load shifting, and temperature-controlled logistics, forming a comprehensive technological matrix from cooling to heating. EPS’s technological advantages lie in its "full-temperature coverage" — from deep freezing at -100℃ (like medical refrigeration) to high-temperature scenarios at 885℃ (such as industrial waste heat recovery), significantly exceeding the usual 0℃-80℃ mid-temperature limits faced by most domestic companies. With multiple global scenarios validating its capabilities, EPS has already established benchmark projects across six key areas:

- Public Medical and Government Institutions: The Royal Wolverhampton Hospital in the UK utilizes a 30m³ tank (1500kWh storage) to ensure stable operation of medical equipment, while the Netherlands Cancer Institute uses a 45m³ tank (2000kWh storage) to reduce research costs with nightly low electricity prices. - Education and Research Institutions: Bergen University in Norway employs four 240m³ tanks (12000kWh storage) to manage peak cooling loads, and the Swinburne University project in Australia achieves a 15-20% reduction in energy consumption. - Commercial Offices and Complexes: The Stone 34 office building in Seattle, US (LEED Platinum certified) saves more than 75% energy through a 25m³ tank (1250kWh storage), and the National Theatre in London's Southbank recovers waste heat with a CHP system. - Industrial Enterprises: Dongguan Chuangke Industrial in China implements a 100m³ tank (4250kWh storage) during the day by shutting down the chiller units, while the Hitachi Chemical project in Guangzhou minimizes circuit modifications to achieve 6400kWh storage. - Transportation Hubs and Infrastructure: The T3 Energy Center at Bergen Airport in Norway has four 60m³ tanks (10000kWh storage) to meet nightly noise restrictions, while the Haramain High-Speed Railway in Saudi Arabia uses tanks ranging from 73 to 227m³ (3200-10000kWh storage) to manage extreme temperatures of 55℃. - Specialized Functional Facilities: The PREMERA Medical Data Center in Seattle has a customized 30m³ tank ensuring 2 hours of cooling during power outages, and the UK Parliament voting control room has a 6m³ tank (270kWh storage) for emergency temperature control.

Collaborative Structure: 70:30 Shareholding + Local Ecosystem Breakthrough, Phase Change Energy Storage Accelerates Toward Mainstream China's energy storage market is at a critical juncture characterized by "policy-driven and technological iterations." Phase change energy storage as a core technology in the thermal (cold) storage domain has long been hindered by insufficient adaptability to wide temperature ranges and delays in high-end applications. The strategic partnership between HC TECH GP and EPS effectively disrupts these bottlenecks through a model of "international technology + local ecosystem." HC TECH GP (via its subsidiary Meiya) holds a 70% stake in Meiya Technology, leading local operations and production capacity, while EPS holds a 30% stake, contributing core patents and global resources. The partnership does not stipulate a fixed term, aiming to balance efficiency and voice through a three-layer decision-making mechanism that includes shareholder meetings, board of directors, and management levels to ensure long-term collaboration. EPS's choice of Guangzhou Meiya as its strategic partner is primarily due to the latter's local advantages: it has a stable customer base in traditional material processing and has established collaborations with official entities like the Ministry of Agriculture and rural development and data center operators, allowing for rapid technology deployment. Moreover, its extensive production capacity is expected to provide solid support for cost control.

Market response has confirmed the attractiveness of this model: the joint venture has already received interest from multiple sectors, with clients in high-end areas such as medical transportation and fresh food cold chains responding positively. In line with cooperative plans, the relevant business is expected to generate significant revenue for HC TECH GP between 2026 and 2027, with gross margins on high-value-added orders anticipated to significantly exceed those of traditional businesses, optimizing profit structures. Most importantly, this partnership not only positions phase change energy storage as a potential upgrade from "niche supplementary technology" to "mainstream energy storage solution," but also marks HC TECH GP's leadership in ushering the Chinese energy storage market into a new phase characterized by "technological diversification, application scenario-based solutions, and industrial ecosystem development," providing more efficient technological support for energy transition under the "dual carbon" objectives.

Market Positioning: Targeting Three High-Potential Tracks, Policy Benefits Open Up a Trillion-Yuan Landscape The joint venture's business expansion aligns precisely with China's “dual carbon” targets and energy storage industry policy directions. The "14th Five-Year Plan" for new energy storage development specifies that by 2025, installed capacity for user-side energy storage will exceed 30 million kilowatts, with three sectors — data centers, cold chain logistics, and facility agriculture — representing the fastest-growing sub-markets and thus becoming the focal point for both parties. This strategic alignment not only follows national policy trends but also accurately targets incremental market opportunities, laying a solid foundation for business implementation. On the demand side, distinct structural explosive characteristics are emerging: data center energy consumption continues to rise with increased computing power needs. By 2024, the market size of China's low-energy data centers will reach ¥277.3 billion, a year-on-year growth of 26.7%. Despite ongoing optimization efforts (average PUE dropping below 1.3), overall electricity consumption remains high, further accelerating the expansion of the waste heat recovery market. By 2025, the specialized market for waste heat recovery in data centers is expected to exceed ¥12 billion, while the overall industrial market is poised for a scale of nearly ¥100 billion. In facility agriculture, the national area of facility agriculture has surpassed 45 million acres, with accelerated intelligent upgrades leading to an expected market size of ¥120 billion by 2025 — where smart environmental control systems represent a core demand, projected to reach ¥42 billion. The commercial building energy renovation market is also sustaining rapid expansion; in 2024, carbon emissions in the building sector will account for 37% of the national total. Driven by the upgrade of green building standards, the building energy-saving market is expected to exceed ¥550 billion by 2029, maintaining an annual growth rate of over 15%. Furthermore, deepening electricity market reforms have widened the peak-valley price difference to above 4:1, significantly enhancing the economic viability and penetration of energy storage technology. Multiple demand factors are creating a resonating effect, collectively opening up vast growth opportunities for smart energy storage.

Notably, this partnership also lays the foundation for HC TECH GP's overseas market expansion. EPS has established mature sales channels and project experience in Europe (UK, Norway, Netherlands), the Middle East (Saudi Arabia), and Oceania (Australia). Although the joint venture is currently focused on the Greater China region, the agreement includes provisions for "overseas customer consultations to be progressed through mutual agreement," paving the way for future expansions. This arrangement implies that utilizing the cost advantages of the Guangzhou base, the joint venture can gradually take on EPS's high-end overseas orders, forming a "local production + global sales" business model that will further widen growth avenues.

Industry Value: Reshaping Competitive Logic, Advancing the Industry from "Involution" to "Upgrade" For a long time, the domestic energy storage industry has been plagued by overcapacity in low-end production and a lack of high-end technology. Many companies cluster in low technology threshold areas like electrochemical storage, leading to frequent price wars. Simultaneously, the high-end phase change energy storage sector is dominated by European and American enterprises, lacking core technologies and standard discourse power. The collaboration between HC TECH GP and EPS marks the first localization of international top phase change technology production, establishing a new benchmark for the industry driven by "technology + production capacity." For HC TECH GP, this partnership represents a critical leap in its strategic transformation. From upgrading its global brand strategy in 2025 to focusing on smart energy storage technology and promoting the industrialization of technologies through the joint venture, it has transitioned from a "traditional steel company" to a "green technology group." As the revenue share from energy storage business increases, the company's valuation logic is expected to shift from "manufacturing PE" to "new energy PS," unlocking new market value.

Against the backdrop of the "dual carbon" objectives, the cooperation between HC TECH GP and EPS is not only a strategic partnership between companies but also a reflection of the deep integration of advanced international technology with the potential of the Chinese market. As new orders translate into a booming production line and -100℃ deep cooling technology serves domestic medical transportation needs, a new energy storage ecosystem—composed of "global technology collaboration, localized capacity support, and market-driven demand"—is emerging. For HC TECH GP, the door to the trillion-yuan energy storage market has just begun to open.