SmartGen: Generator-set, transfer switch, marine power and energy storage controllers

Overview

SmartGen traces its work to 1998, when Yang Xinzheng and Cui Wenfeng left the design and electronics departments of the Zhengzhou Electrical Equipment General Factory and set up an electrical automation research institute in Zhengzhou, according to the directors' biographies in the 2025 annual report. The present company was registered by the two of them on 8 May 2003 as Zhengzhou Haotian Electrical Equipment, renamed Zhengzhou SmartGen Electronic Equipment in 2004 and converted into a joint-stock company in December 2010, as the IPO prospectus records. The founders still hold a majority of the shares between them.

The business was built on generator-set controllers for China's gen-set industry. The prospectus names Deep Sea Electronics, ComAp and DEIF as the multinational competitors that hold the middle and upper market, says those three brands had the Chinese market for paralleling several sets, or sets with the mains, to themselves until SmartGen developed its own paralleling controller in 2011, and presents SmartGen as the leading domestic alternative that competes on reliability, breadth and price. From automatic mains failure and paralleling controllers the range has grown to transfer switch controllers, marine engine control and power management, digital voltage regulators, construction machinery controls and, more recently, battery management, energy management and complete storage cabinets.

SmartGen was quoted on China's NEEQ over-the-counter market from January 2014 to December 2020 and listed on the ChiNext board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in November 2022 under stock code 301361. A Cailian Press preview of the offering noted that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology named it a national specialised "little giant" in 2020. Its site is published in Chinese, English, Spanish, Portuguese and Turkish, and the HGM9510 manual and its Modbus protocol can be downloaded from the company site without an account.

Offering

Generator-set controllers

The HGM6100N series covers simple sets: the HGM6110N starts on a remote signal and the HGM6120N adds mains supervision and automatic changeover, while the NC versions add an RS-485 port and the CAN versions talk to electronic engines. The HGM7220N adds GPS, SMS alarms and built-in cloud monitoring, and the HGM7220S adds synchronised changeover. For paralleling, the HGM9510 synchronises and shares load between sets of similar or different size through its governor and AVR outputs, the HGM9520N parallels a single set with the mains, and the HGM9560 controls the tie between a gen-set bus and one or more mains supplies. Further families cover gas gen-sets, lighting towers, telecom base stations, low-temperature sets, combined heat and power and, since August 2026, range-extender gen-sets.

Transfer switches and distribution

Nearly 50 dual-power ATS controllers make up most of the HAT range, alongside three-source, bus tie and bypass controllers. The HAT600PS is a synchronous dual-power controller with RS-485, USB and Ethernet. SmartGen also sells complete SGQ and SGM transfer switches and, since 2026, the IPTS80 power transfer system for medium-voltage switchgear with four incomers and a bus coupler.

Marine

HMC engine and gen-set controllers, MGCP control panels and the HPM6 multi-master power management system cover propulsion engines, auxiliary sets, shaft generators and shore power. The 2025 annual report lists marine control among the lines whose sales grew markedly that year.

New energy

The HEMS200 manages PV, battery storage and diesel sets on one site, the HES6120PV combines PV inverter control with single-set control, and HBCU and HBMU modules form a battery management system. SmartGen also builds air and liquid-cooled storage cabinets such as the ESSL261-832-05C, lithium protection boards and power conversion systems.

Components and cloud

Battery chargers, engine heaters, digital voltage regulators, I/O and protection modules and CMM366 cloud modules complete the range. In 2025 controllers brought in 60.9% of revenue, components such as control cabinets, chargers, heaters and storage cabinets 32.4% and modules 5.9%, according to the annual report.

Technology

Monitoring interfaces

SmartGen publishes a separate Modbus protocol document for each controller. The HGM9510 protocol (version 1.1, October 2021) is typical: the controller has two RS-485 ports with the same map and acts as a Modbus RTU slave only, at addresses 1 to 254 (default 1) and 2400 to 19,200 baud (default 9600, no parity, two stop bits). Function code 03 reads alarm bits, status words and electrical and engine values, 05 sends remote key presses such as start, stop, auto, manual and breaker changeover, and 06 writes single settings. A read returns up to 120 registers, and up to 32 controllers can share one bus over about 1,000 m of shielded twisted pair. The HGM9560 protocol (version 1.2, January 2024) and the HGM7220N and HGM7220S protocol (version 1.2, May 2025) describe one RS-485 port at 9600 baud. The basic HGM6120N has a USB configuration port only; RS-485 Modbus is an HGM6120NC feature.

CAN carries SAE J1939 engine data and commands, and on paralleling controllers a second CAN link, MSC, coordinates load sharing between up to 32 units, as the HGM9510 manual (version 1.8, February 2025) sets out. The same manual describes reading Cummins GCS engines over RS-485 Modbus. Ethernet appears on selected models such as the HGM9510N, HGM9520N and HAT600PS. Modbus RTU carries no authentication of its own, so remote commands rest on the wiring and on whatever gateway sits in front of the controller.

Cloud monitoring

A CMM366A-ET module downloads the matching controller protocol from SmartGen's cloud server after login, reads the controller over RS-485, USB, LINK or RS-232 and forwards its data over Ethernet; 4G and Wi-Fi versions do the same over cellular or wireless links. The annual report says the platform runs as a public cloud with mobile, web and PC clients, or as a fully customised private deployment. The HEMS200 microgrid controller is a larger computer, with a 1.1 GHz multi-core processor, 2 GB of RAM, eight RS-485, three RS-232, three CAN and four Ethernet ports and 4G.

Third-party integration

Technoton announced in August 2026 that its CANUp 27 gateway reads HGM6100N-series controllers over RS-485 Modbus, passing operating values and alarm flags to its UNUM Genset service and relaying manual, auto, start and stop commands back. The South African agent Auto Comms & Control sells CMM366A modules for app-based monitoring of SmartGen sets.

Security and standards

SmartGen reports IACS UR E27 cybersecurity type approvals for its marine engine control and power management products from CCS, Bureau Veritas (June 2025) and ABS (August 2026), and the annual report confirms the CCS and BV cybersecurity certificates. No comparable certificate is published for its land controllers. The company co-drafted China's national standard for gen-set controllers, GB/T 37089-2018, according to its own site, and runs an in-house test centre for EMC, environmental and functional testing.

Customers

Gen-set builders

SmartGen's customers are mostly companies that build gen-sets and switchgear. The IPO prospectus lists long-term customers including Weichai, Yuchai, Cummins, Woodward, Shanghai Cooltech Power and Jiangxi Tellhow. Its five largest customers in the first half of 2022 included the generator maker Fujian Yihua Electric Machinery, DEIF A/S and Welling & Crossley Pty Ltd, and the five together took 14.5% of revenue. The base is broad: the five largest customers took 10.4% of 2025 revenue, according to the 2025 annual report.

Power plants and data centres

SmartGen's own case studies give most of the named installations. Five high-voltage gen-sets on HGM9510N controllers serve a China Merchants Bank data centre. A remote factory with associated natural gas and no mains runs 48 gas gen-sets of 250 kW in two paralleled groups on HGM9510N controllers. On a Jiangsu dairy farm, two 250 kW biogas sets on HGM9510 controllers share load with the grid through an HGM9560, with CMM366B-4G modules reporting to SmartGen Cloud Plus.

Ships and offshore

Four HMC6 power management controllers run the power station of the 51,000 DWT bulk carriers Chengshan 01 and Chengshan 02, built by Taizhou Zhonghang Ship for Tangshan Dongfang Shipping and classed by CCS. Three HMC6 units switch the emergency gen-set between two 380 V busbars on a Huaneng offshore wind booster station. In June 2026 CSSC Chengxi Shipyard delivered M/V AVON, a 50,000 DWT tanker for the Greek owner Prodigy, with three HPM6 controllers on its main switchboard, as the company reports.

Storage and microgrids

On a highway service area, one HEMS200 controls three 125 kW / 261 kWh storage systems, the PV inverters and five 120 kW chargers. The storage projects named so far are in China and are described without the owner's name.

Markets

SmartGen remains mainly a Chinese supplier. The 2025 annual report puts domestic revenue at RMB 262.9 million (90.7%) and overseas revenue at RMB 27.0 million (9.3%), and direct sales at 97.9% of the total. Inside mainland China it sells directly through regional sales engineers, a model it calls expert marketing; outside it uses designated agents, and every product ships from the Zhengzhou factory, according to the company site. The annual report says products are exported to more than 70 countries and regions.

Agents and subsidiaries

The contact page lists agents in Turkey, South Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia, Israel, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Korea, Australia, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Mexico, Brazil and Puerto Rico, alongside its own overseas business division. Auto Comms & Control describes itself as sole agent for SmartGen in Southern Africa. In April 2025 SmartGen set up a wholly owned subsidiary in Istanbul for research, manufacturing, sales and service, which it presents as a base for Central and Eastern Europe and the wider Eurasian market, and it showed its range at the 2026 Turkey International Industry Fair.

Segments

The traditional demand is diesel and gas gen-sets for standby, prime and emergency power, bought by gen-set and panel builders. For 2025 the annual report credits growth to AI data centres, offshore wind, ships and mobile power vehicles. Marine control is a growing line, with classification society approvals from CCS, BV, ABS, RS and NK, and SmartGen exhibits at maritime shows such as SMM Hamburg as well as energy shows such as Middle East Energy in Dubai. Its new energy business is aimed at hybrid sites where gen-sets run beside PV and storage, at off-grid and microgrid plants, and at commercial and industrial storage for peak shaving.

Company

Legal entity and ownership

The company is 郑州众智科技股份有限公司 (SmartGen (Zhengzhou) Technology Co., Ltd.), registered at No. 28 Jinsuo Road in the Zhengzhou High-tech Industrial Development Zone, with its offices at No. 28 Xuemei Street, according to the 2025 annual report. Its shares trade on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's ChiNext board as 301361. The founders Cui Wenfeng (32.16%) and Yang Xinzheng (28.01%) are the controlling shareholders, and the total share capital is 116,336,000 shares.

Listing and funding

The IPO prospectus sets out 29,084,000 new shares at RMB 26.44, raising RMB 769.0 million gross and RMB 704.9 million net, mostly for a new industrial park for gen-set control systems in Zhengzhou. Before that the company was quoted on the NEEQ from 24 January 2014 until 17 December 2020.

Leadership

A nine-member sixth board was elected on 23 April 2026, with Yang Xinzheng as chairman and Cui Wenfeng as vice chairman; the same day Cui was reappointed general manager, Zhao Shikai finance director and Deng Yanfeng board secretary, according to the board announcement. Chief engineer Wang Lei has led research and development since 2004.

Financial performance

Revenue rose from RMB 139 million in 2019, as Cailian Press reported from the prospectus, to RMB 289.9 million in 2025, up 21.4% on the year, with net profit of RMB 96.5 million and research spending of 9.75% of revenue. For the first nine months of 2026 the third-quarter report shows revenue of RMB 258.0 million, up 27.1%, and net profit of RMB 74.0 million. MarketScreener's company profile carries the same revenue split by region.

Headcount and research

The company employed 447 people at the end of 2025, 166 of them (37%) in research and development, up from 89 (29%) in mid-2022. It held 488 patents, 36 of them invention patents, and 67 software copyrights. Its recognitions include national specialised "little giant", national high-tech enterprise and Henan manufacturing single champion.