(Yicai Global) July 3 -- The first phase of Golden Concord Group Holdings’ new CNY5 billion (USD690 million) battery cathode materials factory in southwestern Sichuan province came online on July 1, cementing the Chinese renewable energy conglomerate’s foothold in the rapidly growing energy storage market.

The project, which is being built in three stages and is located in the city of Meishan, will produce 360,000 tons of lithium iron phosphate cathode materials a year when finished, the Hong Kong-based company said on its website on July 1.

The first phase, which cost CNY1.7 billion (USD234 million) and has just started operations, has an annual production capacity of 120,000 tons of cathode materials, said GCL. Once fully up and running, it will achieve annual sales of CNY10 billion (USD1.4 billion).

The second phase, costing CNY2 billion (USD276 million), will start construction in the second half and will have a yearly output of 160,000 tons, according to the parent firm of four-listed green energy companies including solar giant GCL System Integration Technology.

As China’s new energy industry booms, the battery market has huge potential for growth. China’s installed capacity of lithium batteries for energy storage is expected to reach 50 million kilowatts by 2025 and 600 million kilowatts by 2035 and to be worth over CNY2 trillion (USD276 billion), according to a report released by the China Energy Storage Alliance in April.

Editor: Kim Taylor