Concord New Energy seeks to ride AI power boom after bruising year in China

[SINGAPORE] Clean power developer Concord New Energy (CNE) seeks fresh growth in powering the artificial intelligence boom, following a tough year in which its profits tumbled by more than 80 per cent.

The 20-year-old company, known for its solar and wind power projects in China and beyond, has secured new projects in Asia-Pacific and the US that ride the AI wave.

Last month, CNE secured approval for 1 gigawatt (GW) of grid power capacity in Texas, one of the world’s fastest-growing data centre markets. The approved capacity will complement one of CNE’s solar power and battery projects in the state and allow it to supply power to hyperscale data centres.

Separately, in March, CNE inked an agreement with hyperscale player Bridge Data Centres to explore developing Singapore’s first hydrogen power solution on a floating barge designed for AI infrastructure.

“You cannot develop AI without access to clean, fast power that can be deployed quickly and cheaply,” CNE’s vice-president Mike Luo told The Business Times over a video call from Texas, where he is based.

The energy crisis with the Middle East war has provided an extra boost for clean power players like CNE.

Luo noted that theree is a growing realisation that the most secure energy is what “you can generate completely within your own borders: solar, wind (and) battery storage”.

CNE has been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 2007, and earlier this year debuted on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) via a secondary listing. It shifted its headquarters from Hong Kong to Singapore in 2023, and has more than 5 GW in renewable energy projects globally.

The company was recently reported to be looking into the issuance of real estate investment trusts (Reits). Asked about this, Luo said that CNE is still evaluating the possibility, with Singapore as a potential market.

Renewable energy projects are well suited for Reits due to the “stable and consistent” cash flows they generate and the ease of projecting these cash flows, he said, without revealing further specifics on CNE’s plans.

On whether the Middle East war will affect CNE’s mulling of a Reit issuance, Luo noted that equity markets and institutional investments are “still pretty healthy”.

Core operations under “severe pressure”

CNE’s growth appetite follows a challenging year for the company in 2025. For the full year, earnings fell 82.6 per cent to 139.7 million yuan, hit by curtailment and pricing reform for renewable power in China.

Curtailment occurs when a power plant generates more electricity than the grid can handle, and the electricity output has to be intentionally restricted. This results in energy wastage and lost revenue for power developers.

Slower growth in electricity demand in China exacerbated CNE’s woes, with the curtailment rate for solar exceeding 30 per cent.

In addition, China in 2025 shifted from fixed price structures for renewable power, towards more competitive, market-based pricing. This led to a fall in electricity tariffs for both wind and solar.

In the company’s latest annual report, chairman Liu Shunxing noted that operations were under “exceptionally severe pressure” and that despite taking some measures, CNE was “still slow to react to the drastic changes” in China’s policies.

In addition, a major asset transaction “expected to contribute substantial profits was not completed as planned”, Liu added.

CNE has tightened its belt in response: It shuttered inefficient operations, merged departments and streamlined positions, resulting in a 31 per cent fall in headcount from the previous year.

The company is also in advanced talks to divest 471 megawatts (MW) worth of projects, to be concluded this year.

While conditions in China have hit CNE’s bottom line, Luo is still bullish on the market and sees more opportunities to offer battery energy storage systems. The company is also building up a team to conduct price forecasting and look for new opportunities in China.

“Our position is that China is going to remain one of the most progressive countries in terms of deploying renewable energy… and it’s on us as a company to adjust our operating strategy,” he said.

Global growth

While it adapts to new conditions in China, CNE is pushing ahead with growth abroad.

The US is a key market. In 2025, the company secured 15-year power purchase agreements for three US-based solar projects worth 469 MW. This is in partnership with “one of the world’s most prominent AI companies”, CNE’s annual report showed.

The company has also secured three solar power projects totalling 33 MW in Asia-Pacific: in South Korea, New Zealand, and Singapore.

In March, CNE launched its first industrial rooftop solar project in Singapore. Located in the Tuas industrial estate, the installation is expected to generate 3.2 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of green power annually.

A portion of the clean power generated will be sold to manufacturer OMS Oilfield Singapore under a 20-year agreement, while the remainder will be traded in the local electricity market.

CNE is also working on wind and solar projects in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

“We started those projects fairly recently over the last year or so, there’s going to be quite some time still before those projects are ready to be built,” said Luo. The company is still in early-stage processes, such as securing land, grid interconnections and permits.

South-east Asia is a good market for on-site clean energy solutions for data centres – dubbed “behind the meter” deployments – in areas where grid access is challenging, he noted.

“That’s a direction I think that we’ll be headed towards… because the amount of (power) demand is so humongous that it’s impossible for grid operators to keep up with it.”

Since its secondary listing on the SGX, CNE’s share price in Singapore has remained relatively flat, closing at S$0.064 on Friday (May 8), after a dip in April.

Luo urged investors to view the company as being at the intersection of AI and the physical world.

At the end of the day, one cannot have AI without electricity, he said. “We’re at that intersection, and what we would like to do is to facilitate and enable that development for all parts of the world, in a clean and sustainable way.”