Beijing, China-based Three Gorges Renewable Group raised CNY 22 billion (USD 3 billion, EUR 2.4 billion) in an initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on 9 June.
The IPO of the state-owned energy systems firm was 78 times oversubscribed, as investors chase renewable energy themed stocks, particularly stocks of state-owned firms.
The company’s parent company, China Three Gorges Corp., built and operates the world’s largest hydro-power station on the Yangtze River and is one of several Chinese energy companies increasing their efforts to move into the business of combined offshore wind power and aquaculture installations.
Among the company’s combined aquaculture-renewable energy projects are the Changyu Marine Ranch, a wind power park off the coast of Shandong province featuring a 300-megawatt (MW) wind installation. Three Gorges has not yet responded to a SeafoodSource inquiry for details of the species and volumes being farmed at the facility. In June 2020, Three Gorges announced a partnership with Yangjiang Haina Fisheries to build the biggest integrated aquaculture-renewable energy facility in the country, in southerly Guangdong Province.
Solar and wind integrated projects continue to draw investment from Chinese energy firms, with Datang Hainan New Energy Co. recently backing a hybrid project of mariculture and a 500-MW offshore wind farm in Dongfang city off Hainan island. And feed and tilapia producer Tongwei Group has also built solar installations above its fish farms.
China plans to build 178 national marine ranch demonstration zones by 2025, according to the National Marine Ranching (Aquaculture) Construction Plan (2017-2025) plan issued by the Chinese Agriculture Ministry.
In April 2021, Three Gorges ran a publicity campaign in the Chinese media highlighting its efforts to protect and replenish fish stocks in countries where it’s active, including Brazil, Laos, and Peru. Its advertisements showed company staff releasing fingerlings into the water of rivers in those countries and sturgeon fry into the Yangtze River in China.
Photo courtesy of Development Research Center of the State Council of the People's Republic of China
