华光环能：35.87亿元营收背后，装备与运营的两本账Huaguang Huaneng: Behind 3.587 billion yuan in revenue, two separate accounts for equipment and operations

Zhuo Qiyan

Revenue reached 3.587 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.19%; net profit attributable to shareholders was 282 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.50%; net profit attributable to shareholders excluding non-recurring gains and losses was 203 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 14.41%. These are the key figures in Huaguang Huaneng's 2026 interim report. The simultaneous occurrence of profit growth and decline precisely illustrates that this company's accounts contain two business curves with different rhythms.

First, break down the business structure. In the first half of the year, the company's energy equipment and services business achieved revenue of 1.394 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.29%, with a gross profit margin of 10.23%; its thermal power operation business achieved revenue of 1.643 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.18%, with a gross profit margin of 22.60%. The equipment business has rapid growth but low gross margins, while the operation business has steady growth but high gross margins—this is exactly the situation many energy companies face: manufacturing has large scale but low profit, while service operations are stable but generate good cash flow. Putting the two curves together forms the true substance of a company.

Equipped with this curve, Huaguang Huaneng's technical platform is firmly anchored on boilers. The company is one of the four domestic enterprises capable of producing H-class gas turbine waste heat boilers, while also covering energy-efficient power generation equipment, environmentally friendly renewable energy power generation equipment, and power plant engineering services. The product spectrum extends from circulating fluidized bed boilers and waste heat boilers to wind turbine blades, wind turbine towers, wind power substations, photovoltaic equipment, as well as environmental protection complete technologies such as CCUS, flue gas desulfurization and denitrification, flue gas whitening, dust removal, and ash conveying.

The value of this product spectrum is particularly evident during the energy structure adjustment period. The role of coal power is shifting from being the main power source to providing basic security and peak regulation; the number of new units is decreasing, but the demand for flexibility modification, heating renovation, and low-carbon transformation of existing units is rising. At the same time, the status of gas-fired power generation as a peaking and supporting power source is increasing, opening up the market space for high-end products like H-class gas turbine waste heat boilers. Competition among equipment manufacturers is shifting from 'producing more' to 'producing more precisely.'

Hydrogen energy is a new direction that the company has been focusing on developing in recent years. The company carries out key technology research and development around hydrogen production through water electrolysis, hydrogen purification, hydrogen storage and transportation, and hydrogen fuel cells, and has already acquired system integration capabilities for hydrogen production, refueling stations, and hydrogen storage. In 2025, the company successfully became a supplier of electrolyzers for the Sinohydrogen Songyuan Hydrogen Energy Industrial Park (green hydrogen-ammonia-methanol integration) demonstration project. The economic viability of green hydrogen projects largely depends on the efficiency, power consumption, and lifespan of the electrolyzers. Entering the supply chain of large-scale green hydrogen integrated projects is an important benchmark for testing the quality of electrolyzer companies.

The core of operating this curve is cogeneration. In the first half of the year, the construction of several of the company's cogeneration plants progressed steadily. It is expected that by 2026, the newly added cogeneration installed capacity will be nearly 1.3 GW, mainly from the construction projects of four cogeneration plants. Cogeneration is a typical utility asset: it requires large investment and has a long return cycle, but once put into operation, the sale of steam and electricity can provide continuous and stable cash flow. For a company that also engages in equipment manufacturing, operating assets act as a ballast—while the equipment business is affected by industry cyclicality, the operating business provides stability across cycles.

New energy assets are also expanding simultaneously. The company disclosed that the Zhongneng Jiantou (Pianguan) 30 MW wind power project was connected to the grid and began generating electricity, achieving a breakthrough in independently constructed wind power projects; the Zhongse Guolian 135.6 MW photovoltaic project also achieved grid connection. From equipment manufacturing to power plant investment and operation, this is a common extension path chosen by many equipment companies—by moving upstream to control power plant assets, they can absorb their own equipment production capacity, gain electricity generation revenue, and at the same time accumulate real operational data of different technical routes to feedback into product iteration.

The risks of this path are equally clear. Power plant investment is a heavy-asset, long-cycle business, highly sensitive to capital strength and financing costs; The returns from renewable energy power generation are influenced by multiple factors such as electricity pricing policies, wind and solar curtailment rates, and green electricity transaction prices. If the project's calculated assumptions change, the return rate will fluctuate. The year-on-year decline in net profit excluding non-recurring items in the first half also indicates cost pressures during the business structure adjustment period.

From an industry perspective, Huaguang Environmental Energy's two accounts reflect the widespread transformation Chinese energy equipment companies are undergoing: single equipment manufacturing can no longer support sustained growth, and extending toward a comprehensive "equipment, operation, service" model has become the choice of most leading companies. The threshold for this path lies in organizational capability—manufacturing focuses on delivery and cost, while operations focus on safety and efficiency; both logics must coexist within the same company.

The value of energy equipment ultimately depends on the actual demands of the energy system. Flexible retrofitting of coal-fired power, supplementary support for gas-fired generation, large-scale production of green hydrogen, and the engineering application of CCUS—all of these call for a more mature supply of equipment. Whether a company can consistently deliver competitive products in these specialized areas determines its position in the next energy investment cycle. With revenue of 3.587 billion yuan and nearly 1.3 gigawatts of thermal power capacity installed, Huaguang Huaneng's current position in this cycle is established.

Flexible retrofitting of coal-fired power is bringing new order structures to boiler and heat exchange equipment companies. As the share of renewable energy increases, coal-fired units need frequent deep-level peak regulation, and the equipment undergoes load fluctuations far greater than previous design conditions, placing new demands on heat transfer surface materials, the steam-water system, and control strategies. The characteristics of the retrofitting market are that individual project scales are not large, but the number of projects is high and technical solutions vary significantly. This tests a company's understanding of different unit operating conditions and its ability to respond quickly.

The utilization of waste heat and industrial heating represents another line of thought. A large amount of medium- and low-temperature waste heat in the industrial sector has not yet been effectively utilized, and equipment such as heat pumps, heat exchangers, and waste heat boilers plays a key role in this process. Turning waste heat from a "discharge product" into a "marketable commodity" requires not only equipment but also accurate assessment of regional heat loads and investment in pipeline networks. For enterprises that simultaneously have equipment manufacturing and thermal power operation businesses, this combination of "equipment, investment, and operation" happens to cover the full chain from technical solutions to revenue realization.

The integration of equipment manufacturing and energy operation is essentially about using operational scenarios to inform product iteration. Real operational data, real maintenance challenges, and real cost structures are directly transformed into design inputs for the next generation of products. The prerequisite for this path is that the enterprise possesses cross-business organizational capability — manufacturing focuses on delivery pace and cost control, while operation focuses on safety redundancies and long-term efficiency. These two logics need to coexist within the same management system. This is also where companies like Huaguang Huaneng face difficulties in their transformation.

From the perspective of market conditions, orders for equipment manufacturing companies often lead the industry's investment cycle. When power generation groups and industrial users begin planning a new round of renovations or new construction projects, the equipment companies' backlog of orders will reflect this first; and at the revenue recognition stage, it usually still requires a delivery cycle of more than half a year. To judge the operating trend of an equipment company, the order structure and delivery rhythm are often more valuable references than the current season's revenue.

The overseas market is also worth paying attention to. In regions such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, the construction of power infrastructure and industrial projects continues to increase, maintaining stable demand for Chinese boilers, heat exchange, and environmental protection equipment. The characteristics of overseas projects are that individual project amounts are large and the cycles are long, which puts higher requirements on a company's project management and financial strength. Correspondingly, the profit margins are usually better than the domestic retrofit market, where homogeneous competition is intense.

(Data source for this article: Huaguang Huaneng 2026 Semiannual Report, Securities Times, Shanghai Securities News, China Securities Journal)

[Research supporting institutions: Energy and Dual-Carbon Research Center of China Industrial Newspaper | China Energy Industry Development Network]