According to the news released by Chuhai.com, on June 17, Bill Gates announced that he will reinvest billions of dollars in the new generation nuclear power plant in Wyoming, USA to meet the huge electricity demand brought by the development of AI. Last week, the nuclear power plant invested by Bill Gates with one billion dollars began construction in Wyoming, USA.

Bill Gates explained that the new data centers need an additional 10% of power load. The rise of electric vehicles and various household heating equipment such as electric heating pumps have pushed up the electricity demand in the United States. The existence of data centers has exacerbated this situation. Therefore, large technology companies are studying how to provide more power to meet the explosive growth of AI demand.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), using the chatbot ChatGPT under OpenAI for one query requires 2.9 watt-hours of electricity. By 2026, the power consumption related to data centers, cryptocurrency, and AI may increase to 620 to 1050 terawatt-hours. Analyzes by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) of the United States have found that by 2030, data centers will consume 4.6% to 9.1% of the electricity in the United States.

According to the research report from CICC, the growth cycle of US power demand has come in the context of industrial and population pattern adjustment. The era of no increase in electricity consumption for fifteen years may end. The US power shortage cycle has begun, and the price transmission and acceptance capacity in the market-oriented regions are very strong. When the supply is tight and the power shortage occurs, the price elasticity is high, and the profitability of relevant power companies may be significantly improved.

Huatai Securities pointed out that the construction of data centers has started overseas, and there is also high growth space for AI landing in China. The growth in demand for electricity overseas provides a global growth opportunity for excellent power generation and power grid equipment companies in China, and the upward cycle of the global power-related industry chain is still strengthening.

Recently, in China's northern region, high-temperature weather continues to develop, and hundreds of national meteorological stations have recorded "historically highest temperatures." According to the National Climate Center, most parts of the country will have higher temperatures than usual during the summer, and there will be more days with high temperatures. Afterward, there may be periodic heat waves in northern China, eastern China, central China, southern China, Xinjiang, and other places, and there may be extreme high temperatures in some areas. High temperatures will inevitably lead to a surge in power load.

According to the "Analysis and Forecast Report on the National Power Supply and Demand Situation for the First Quarter of 2024" published by the State Grid Corporation of China, the report predicts that the total national electricity consumption in 2024 will be 9.8 trillion kilowatt-hours, an increase of about 6% compared to 2023, and the total national electricity consumption in the first half of the year will grow slightly faster than 8% year-on-year.

According to the forecast of the National Energy Administration, the national power load will grow rapidly during the summer of this year. The maximum load will increase by more than 100 million kilowatts year-on-year, and the growth rate will exceed 7% compared with the peak load of 1.339 billion kilowatts set in July last year. Under the catalyst of the high growth of power load caused by high temperature and the tense power supply in some areas, investment opportunities in the power sector are worth focusing on.

Huaxi Securities predicts that the demand for new energy IT will rapidly erupt, ushering in a golden development stage. This year, an unprecedented large-scale equipment update is brewing in the power industry. This institution believes that the power industry has ushered in a brand-new opportunity period.

Tianfeng Securities stated that by comparing the excess returns of various thematic indices in summer with the Shanghai Composite Index and considering the background of tight electricity supply, power supply guarantee and flexible load regulation may become a race worth paying attention to for the power industry.

Related concept stocks:

China Resources Power (00836): By 2023, the cumulative sales volume of the attached power plants reached 193 million megawatt-hours, a year-on-year increase of 4.7%. Among them, the cumulative sales volume of attached wind farms reached 39.61 million kilowatt-hours, a year-on-year increase of 12.4%; the cumulative sales volume of attached photovoltaic power stations reached 2.86 million megawatt-hours, a year-on-year increase of 111.8%.

Huadian International Power (01071): Guotai Junan released a research report stating that considering that the coal power operation of Huadian International Power (01071) is stable and the equity installed capacity is expected to continue to grow, the company's EPS attributable to ordinary shareholders in 2023-2025 was raised to 0.57/0.64/0.71 yuan (original value: 0.52/0.61/0.65 yuan), and the current stock price corresponds to a PE (2023E) of 5.5 times. Maintain the target price of HKD 5.30 and the "buy" rating.

Datang Renew (01798): as of December 31, 2023, the Group's cumulative power generation completed amounted to 3160.78 million kilowatt-hours, a year-on-year increase of 9.80% from 2022. Among them, the wind power generation completed 2918.54 million kilowatt-hours, a year-on-year increase of 7.44% from 2022; photovoltaic power generation completed 242.24 million kilowatt-hours, a year-on-year increase of 49.22% from 2022.

Huaneng Power (00902): In 2023, the company's power plants in China completed a total of 447.856 billion kilowatt-hours of power generation on a consolidated basis, a year-on-year increase of 5.33%; in 2023, the proportion of the company's market-oriented trading power generation remained unchanged at 88.40%.

CGN power (01816): In 2023, CGN power achieved a grid-connected power generation of 214.146 billion kilowatt-hours, a year-on-year increase of 7.95%. The company has also built 11 units, all using the "Hualong One" nuclear power technology.