At the Guohua integrated photovoltaic-hydrogen-storage project's energy storage station and hydrogen production plant in the Yudong reclamation area of Rudong, Jiangsu, workers are racing to fine-tune the energy storage systems and hydrogen production equipment as final preparations before the project becomes operational.
As one of China's larger integrated photovoltaic-hydrogen-storage projects, this comprehensive energy facility—combining solar power generation, energy storage for peak regulation, and green hydrogen production—pioneers a new model for clean energy development in nearshore intertidal zones. It represents the latest achievement in Rudong's efforts to deepen its coastal new energy sector and tackle major green energy projects.
Advancing toward the sea is Rudong's most defining characteristic. The Nantong Municipal Party Committee has high hopes for coastal development, explicitly stating that "the coast is the biggest incremental growth for the next trillion." Rudong anchors its strategic direction on "all-for-sea development and comprehensive catch-up," emphasizing project breakthroughs for strong support, industrial transformation for momentum, and investment attraction for sustained growth, continuously converting coastal resource advantages into industrial development strengths. By mid-September, among Rudong's projects listed in provincial and municipal major project inventories, the implementation rate for commencement was 100%. The county carried out 86 major county-level projects with a commencement rate of 98.8%. In the first half of the year, 24 new industrial projects worth over 500 million yuan, 30 projects worth 100 million to 500 million yuan, 54 newly completed projects, and 14 newly converted projects were initiated. Foreign investment in place reached $121.47 million.
Building a Solid Foundation for High-Quality Development
The sea is Rudong's most distinctive and competitive core resource endowment. At the forefront of Rudong's seaward development—on Yangguang Island in the Yangkou Port Economic Development Zone—three provincial major projects are under intensive construction: the fourth phase of PetroChina's Jiangsu LNG receiving terminal, the Guoxin LNG receiving terminal, and the GCL Huidong LNG receiving terminal. Once fully operational, Rudong will become the largest LNG storage and transshipment base in the Yangtze River Delta region, capable of handling over 20 million tons of LNG annually, providing solid support for regional energy security and green transformation.
The pattern of a major energy port has emerged, and the layout of port-side industries is unfolding in tandem. In the port-side industrial zone, the first-phase civil engineering of the Tongkun Phase III—Jiaheng high-end differentiated fiber and functional new materials project, with a total investment of 5.5 billion yuan and covering approximately 780 mu—has been completed, and the first six texturing machines have all been installed and put into production. Once fully completed, the project will produce 325,000 tons of profiled and differential composite elastic textured fibers, 450 million meters of super-simulated functional textile fabrics, and 220,000 tons of multifunctional differentiated knitted fabrics annually. From the first phase landing in 2021 to the current Phase III expansion, the Tongkun project has achieved, for the first time globally, vertical integration of PTA, polyester, spinning, and weaving at a single base. Its successive rounds of capital increase and production expansion vividly illustrate how Rudong leverages its coastal port-side spatial advantages to attract major industrial projects and promote the extension, supplementation, and strengthening of industrial chains.
Across the road from the Tongkun project is the largest Turkish physical investment project in China since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Turkey, as well as a key national foreign investment project and a provincial and municipal major project—the Kesan green polyester new materials project. Invested by Turkey's Kesan Group with $710 million, the project covers 600 mu and is being advanced in five phases. Currently, the first-phase first set of 200,000-ton-per-year PET production facilities has been put into trial production with feedstock. "The PTA produced in Tongkun Phase I is the core raw material for our products. The wall-to-wall supply of raw materials and the supporting port logistics advantages can reduce our raw material procurement and transportation costs. This is also a key factor in why Kesan Group chose to settle in Yangkou Port," introduced Zhang Qiang, Executive Deputy General Manager of Kesan (Nantong) New Materials Co., Ltd.
Prospering toward the sea, the industrial landscape continues to expand. Since the "14th Five-Year Plan," Rudong has had 107 projects listed as provincial and municipal major projects, 133 industrial projects worth over 500 million yuan commence construction, and 112 completed and put into production. In the past two years, projects worth over 100 million yuan settled in coastal areas accounted for more than 50% of the county's total. This year, Rudong will advance 111 major projects at the provincial, municipal, and county levels. "We will closely focus on the goal set by the Municipal Party Committee—'advance toward the sea, strive for catch-up, accelerate foundation-laying, expand total volume, and bravely serve as a pacesetter for high-quality development among coastal counties in the province'—striving to lead in marine industry development and build an important growth pole for high-quality development along the Jiangsu coast," stated Yang Wanping, Secretary of the Rudong County Party Committee.
Reshaping the Driving Force for Industrial Upgrading
Development is measured not only by quantity but also by quality. In recent years, Rudong has consistently aimed at high-end, intelligent, and green industrial upgrading, accelerating the construction of a "1+3+N" modern industrial system—with the marine economy as the overarching framework, strengthening the three leading industries of new energy, new materials, and new equipment, and prospectively laying out future tracks such as hydrogen energy and computing power, promoting the transformation of industries from "scale expansion" to "quality and efficiency improvement."
Entering the Phase II manufacturing center of Zhongtian Hydrogen Co., Ltd. in the Rudong Economic Development Zone, two alkaline electrolyzer production lines are operating at high speed. As the core production base for Zhongtian Technology Group's hydrogen energy industry layout, the alkaline electrolyzers produced here are core equipment for green hydrogen production, adaptable to different hydrogen production scenarios, with an annual capacity of up to 1 gigawatt. "In August this year, the new factory was officially put into production, and currently both production lines have reached industry-leading levels in performance parameters," introduced Huang Bin, General Manager of Zhongtian Hydrogen Co., Ltd. Relying on the original technology sourcing advantages of the Beijing Low Carbon Clean Energy Research Institute, the company's 1,000-standard-cubic-meter low-power alkaline electrolyzers and 35MPa high-flow hydrogen dispensers have obtained the energy industry's first set certifications and have been empirically verified in multiple domestic and international projects.
Industrial development is never an isolated "single-soldier advance." Targeting the downstream hydrogen energy industrial chain, Rudong has introduced the CIMC green methanol project, with a planned investment of 2.5 billion yuan. Once completed, it will produce 300,000 tons of green methanol annually, achieving a value closed loop from "green hydrogen" to "green fuel." Currently, the project has completed sample testing and is being accelerated.
While positioning itself in the hydrogen energy track, Rudong is also turning its attention to the AI field. Leveraging its abundant green electricity resources and LNG cold energy advantages, it plans to build the Yangtze River Delta Green Intelligent Computing Industrial Park, accelerating the layout of a "green electricity + cold energy + computing power" synergistic system. Currently, the China Telecom Yangtze River Delta Computing Hub project, with a total investment of 30 billion yuan, has completed its general layout design. The Vianet Green Intelligent Computing (Token Factory) project, with a total investment of 6 billion yuan, has completed registration of its foreign-funded company and plans to commence construction in the first half of next year.
To ensure the green intelligent computing cluster has stable and economical clean cold energy, Rudong is simultaneously advancing the PetroChina light hydrocarbon separation project. Invested and constructed by PetroChina Natural Gas Sales Branch, the project plans to build three 3.3-million-ton-per-year light hydrocarbon separation units, two 3,000-cubic-meter liquefied gas spherical tanks, one 20,000-cubic-meter ethane double-metal full-containment tank, and supporting auxiliary facilities. Relying on this project, Rudong plans to build a professional cold exchange center to collect and centrally distribute the cold energy released during LNG regasification, effectively reducing data center PUE values and achieving low-carbon operations and energy efficiency improvements in the computing power industry.
Cultivating New Advantages for Regional Competitiveness
On August 28, Yangkou Town held a project signing event where 10 projects were signed on-site, with a total investment exceeding 5.5 billion yuan, covering 8 industrial projects and 2 science and innovation projects. The project structure exhibits three distinctive characteristics: "local capital increase and production expansion, precise external attraction, and industry-academia-research science and innovation transformation." Among them, the Huaneng Rudong R12 offshore photovoltaic project has a planned total installed capacity of 550,000 kilowatts. The Envision AI smart energy storage project boasts advantages such as global premiere, sodium-lithium coordination, AI empowerment, and full-stack self-development. The Natto high-end lubricating grease project breaks through "bottleneck" technologies in high-end equipment lubrication. These projects are all high-quality projects attracted by Rudong through targeted investment promotion aimed at key links in the industrial chain based on its own industrial positioning, injecting new vitality into the continuous upgrading of the industrial structure.
Centering on the three leading industries of new energy, new materials, and new equipment, Rudong focuses on missing links in the upstream and downstream of industrial chains and key supporting needs, carrying out six major actions: attracting quality and strong investments, stationing and deepening efforts, chain leader clustering, county-wide visibility, foreign investment breakthroughs, and existing stock quality improvement. During the攻坚 quarter, principal officials from all towns (districts, streets) in the county led expeditions, and leading cadres at all levels cumulatively spent 374 days on external investment promotion, visiting over 450 enterprises. Under the county-wide "one chessboard" coordination, key sectors leverage their own endowments and differentially deepen industrial chain investment promotion, forming an industrial investment pattern of multi-point blossoming and distinctive development.
The Rudong Economic Development Zone targets strategic emerging industries such as next-generation information technology, intelligent terminals, and AI digital applications, precisely linking university and industrial resources. On September 25, the Hangzhou Qiuguo Technology Rudong Intelligent Manufacturing Center successfully signed and settled in the Jinshan Road Future Innovation Valley. Yangkou Port focuses on key tracks such as high-end materials and green energy, introducing a batch of key industrial chain supporting projects including Jingxie high-purity electronic chemicals for yellow light zones, Messer Gas Island, and Ruibai's 600,000-ton sustainable aviation fuel. The Yangkou Town special investment team persists in proactively venturing out for targeted investment promotion, focusing on key tracks such as high-end electronic chemicals, high-performance new materials, and commercial aerospace components for chain-based attraction, successively connecting with 25 quality enterprises and research institutes, and continuously deepening the landing of projects under discussion such as radiative cooling coatings, electronic chemicals, and polyurethane.