On August 3, Huaneng Lancangjiang New Energy Co., Ltd.’s Lushan PV power generation project commenced construction. It is reported that the project is located in Xiaowan Town, Fengqing County, Lincang City, Yunnan Province, specifically including three construction sites: Zhengyi Village, Wenquan Village, and Qingzhong Village. The project’s estimated total investment is 385 million yuan, with an installed capacity of 90 MW on the AC side and 107.6 MW on the DC side.

Recently, the Risen Energy Datang Zhangpu fishing-solar complementary PV power station was successfully connected to the grid and began generating electricity. The project uses 56 MW of heterojunction Fuxi Pro modules, with an average annual power generation of approximately 73.95 million kWh. Located in Duxun Town, Zhangpu County, Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province, the project adopts a composite development model of "power generation above panels and aquaculture below panels," promoting the coordinated development of clean energy production and traditional fisheries. While improving the comprehensive land utilization efficiency, the project achieves an organic integration of ecological, economic, and social benefits. After being put into operation, the project will further enhance the local green power supply capacity and inject new momentum into the optimization of the regional energy structure and the low-carbon transition of the economy and society.

[SMM Analysis] In H1 2026, global energy storage battery cell shipments reached 486 GWh. The power generation and grid side and industrial and commercial ESS remained the main demand sources. Top-tier players maintained their lead, while some enterprises saw significant improvements in market rankings. Meanwhile, shipments of large battery cells above 500Ah reached approximately 42 GWh, with product upsizing beginning to shift from introduction and verification to volume delivery. However, production ramp-up, manufacturing yield, quality control, and order coordination remain key constraints on volume growth. Looking ahead to H2, the energy storage battery cell market is expected to sustain high growth. The anticipated introduction of consumption tax and cancellation of export tax rebates may pull forward some demand and delivery pace. Industry competition will further shift toward product reliability, manufacturing stability, and sustained delivery capability.

Recently, the inauguration ceremony of Sky47 Karakoram-01, Pakistan's largest integrated general-purpose and intelligent computing data center jointly built by ZTE and Pakistan's leading cloud service provider Sky47, was held in Islamabad. As Pakistan's first customized AI-native Tier III data center, Sky47 Karakoram-01 has a total power supply capacity of 8.5 megawatts (MW). The center will provide robust cloud computing, data hosting, and advanced digital service support nationwide in Pakistan, fully meeting the computing power needs of government and enterprises in fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and high-performance computing (HPC).

Today, computing power leasing was flat; H100 standalone scattered resources were released; and the highest quote for a 5090 complete machine in the west reached 16,000 yuan/month (no price increase this week). Existing Nvidia resources were scarce and quotes were firm; it is expected that the shortage of high-end computing power will be eased when the Huawei Ascend 950 cluster comes online for operator leasing resources in Q4.

Today, spot #1 copper cathode in North China against the front-month contract was quoted at a discount of 100-30 yuan/mt, with an average discount of 65 yuan/mt, a decrease of 60 yuan/mt from the previous trading day; the average transaction price was 107,915 yuan/mt, an increase of 825 yuan/mt from the previous trading day;

With Zambia's general election scheduled for August 13, the country's mining industry is calling for stronger government support to accelerate copper sector expansion, including incentives for mineral processing, increased greenfield exploration and additional power generation capacity. Africa's second-largest copper producer aims to increase annual copper output to 3 million tonnes, nearly triple current production, to capitalize on rising global demand driven by electric vehicles, power grids and infrastructure development. Benchmark copper prices have climbed more than 40% over the past year to around US$14,000 per tonne. The Zambia Chamber of Mines said tax reforms and improved engagement between government and mining companies have attracted more than US$10 billion of investment since the 2021 election. President Hakainde Hichilema is expected to win re-election, with mining policies likely to remain largely unchanged.

The negative China-related measures taken by the US Federal Communications Commission and the US Department of Homeland Security seriously violate the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and seriously undermine China’s legitimate rights and interests. On August 5, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce stated that China has no choice but to respond with necessary countermeasures, including: strengthening export controls on drones and their key parts and technologies to the US, and suspending the China Compulsory Certification

[China's Aluminum Inventory Pullback, Multiple Factors in Play, Aluminum Prices Drift Higher] Overall, recently the macro front has improved, the US Fed's near-term hold on rate hikes has eased the marginal constraint on the non-ferrous metals sector, and China's proportion of liquid aluminum continues to rise while aluminum inventory destocking has resumed, together underpinning aluminum prices. However, the continuous rollout of long-term aluminum capacity outside China, weak traditional end-use demand in China during the off-season, and the recent easing of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East are putting some upward pressure on aluminum prices. It is expected that aluminum prices will maintain a trend of consolidating on a strong note.

[SMM Tin Morning Brief: ADP Misses Expectations + LME Tin Night Session Breaks Through 57,000 SHFE Tin 2609 Closes at 438,200 Up 1.70%]