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Not long ago, the Changtai Yangtze River Bridge, the world’s largest-span cable-stayed bridge and the largest-span road-rail dual-purpose steel truss arch bridge in which Nanjing Iron and Steel participated in steel supply, was opened to traffic. The Changtai Yangtze River Bridge is located between the Taizhou Yangtze River Bridge and the Jiangyin Yangtze River Bridge. It connects Taixing City of Taizhou in the north and Xinbei District of Changzhou in the south, reducing the travel time between the two places from 80 minutes to about 20 minutes. This cross-river passage integrating expressways, intercity railways and first-class highways has achieved multiple world firsts and records from design to construction.
In the past, the pavement of railway steel Bridges was mostly composed of concrete and single-material steel plates. When it was windy or rainy, the coarse sand or crushed stones laid on the railway bridge surface were prone to storing moisture, causing crevice corrosion and affecting the service life of the railway steel bridge. To address this issue, Nangang has innovatively launched composite plates such as “stainless steel + carbon steel” and “bridge steel + stainless steel”. According to an expert in new materials technology research at Nanjing Iron and Steel, composite plates are made by using a certain method to produce a single steel plate from several types of steel with different properties based on the application requirements of different scenarios, and are used in fields such as pipelines, Bridges, and ships. This composite board product combines the strength and toughness of the base material (carbon steel) with the excellent corrosion resistance of the covering material (stainless steel), and is cost-effective. It is a low-carbon, green and high-performance composite material that integrates functionality, structure and economy.
Nangang has applied high-grade composite plates in the construction of the Changtai Yangtze River Bridge this time. The composite plates used need to meet the comprehensive performance requirements such as high strength, high toughness and good weldability. This is the first batch application of high-grade bridge composite plates in China, and Nangang is also the largest domestic supplier of high-grade bridge composite plates for this project. When developing the composite plates to be used in this bridge project, Nangang innovatively adopted vacuum rolling composite technology. This technology won the first prize of the Metallurgical Science and Technology Award of the China Iron and Steel Association and the China Society for Metals in 2025.
Nanjing Iron and Steel Corporation, with its “steel backbone”, crossed the natural barrier of the Yangtze River and once again set a new world record for major manufacturing. Similarly, another large enterprise from the new district – Huilun Solar, a subsidiary of SumeC Energy Holdings Limited, has its photovoltaic products crossed the ocean, demonstrating the hard-core strength of domestic scientific and technological innovation.
Recently, the Tianlongxing series photovoltaic modules produced by Huilun Solar have been awarded the Building Technology Certification certificate by the German Institute for Building Technology (DIBt), making it one of the first photovoltaic brands in China to receive this honor. This marks an important breakthrough for SuMEC Huilun in terms of safety, environmental sustainability and technical performance, and it is also a vivid portrayal of the overseas expansion of products from enterprises in the new district. DIBt (German Institute for Building Technology) is the authoritative federal-level building certification body in Germany, responsible for the compliance assessment of building materials, structural systems, energy components, etc. DIBt focuses on the compliance of photovoltaic modules as “building components”, emphasizing their comprehensive compliance in aspects such as structural mechanics, fire resistance performance, and material stability.
Such strict certification standards pose a “cross-border challenge” for Chinese manufacturers: components are no longer merely electrical products but part of the building itself. Their design concepts, performance goals, and compliance paths must all shift from “power station logic” to “building logic”.
The Tianlongxing series of photovoltaic modules employ advanced technologies and production processes, featuring high photoelectric conversion efficiency and outstanding power generation performance. Moreover, the components have strong adaptability and wide application. They can maintain excellent power generation performance under various conditions such as BIPV, vertical installation, snow, high humidity, and sandstorms. The rich adaptability and stability of application scenarios have enabled them to pass the certification smoothly.
After passing the DIBt verification, our photovoltaic modules can be used as building components and applied in overhead installation scenarios such as local photovoltaic carports and agricultural photovoltaic systems in Germany. A relevant person in charge of Huilun Solar Energy stated that the entry of Chinese products into the European building-integrated photovoltaic market has broken through the technical and market barriers that have long been constructed by local European component manufacturers. From “steel backbone” to “long sail of photovoltaic”, enterprises in the new district have engraved their industrial innovation achievements into the major project map with a composite steel plate and a set of photovoltaic modules. Steel bodies have been erected on the Yangtze River, and domestic photovoltaic panels have been erected on the European continent. Enterprises in the new district are constantly refreshing industrial perceptions and reshaping industry benchmarks with cutting-edge technologies and innovative products.
