(Yicai Global) Feb. 13 -- Center Power Tech’s shares hit their upper limit after the Chinese developer of new energy projects revealed plans to invest CNY10.5 billion (USD1.5 billion) building plants to make energy storage batteries, including sodium-ion batteries.

Center Power Tech [SHE: 002733] jumped by 10 percent in the afternoon to close at CNY20.85 (USD3) a share today after the Shenzhen-based firm announced at noon that it had signed an investment deal with the Jingshan city government in central Hubei province on Feb. 8.

Under the agreement, Center Power Tech will build new plants with an annual output capacity of 10-gigawatt hours of sodium-ion batteries and 15 GWh of lithium-ion batteries, respectively, the company said. The Jingshan government plans to take a 10 percent to 20 percent stake in the sodium-ion battery project firm for CNY300 million (USD44 million) to CNY600 million, the company added.

Construction of the lithium-ion plant will start this year, with the whole project finished by the end of 2025, Center Power Tech noted. It said the new plants’ products will be mainly used in the new energy storage, fifth-generation communications and internet data center markets.

As a supplier of conventional lead-acid cells, Center Power Tech has been branching out into various new energy battery businesses in recent years but had not entered the sodium-ion battery field. The firm’s new energy power systems annual capacity comprises 20,000 sets of hydrogen fuel cell engine systems and 1.1 GWh of lithium-ion battery, according to its website.

Sodium-ion batteries work very similarly to lithium-ion batteries. The former are cheaper than the latter, as sodium salts are their main electrode materials component.

Sodium-ion batteries can be used as a substitute for lithium batteries in applications with relatively low energy density requirements. However, with the rapid improvement of production technology, sodium-ion batteries are also beginning to expand to electric vehicles.

Editor: Peter Thomas