Longi is the latest manufacturer to spend big on expanding output.
Image: Longi Solar
Chinese monocrystalline PV manufacturer Longi has announced plans to expand production capacity with the help of a rights issue that is expected to complete this week.
The Xi’an-based company hopes to raise RMB3.88 billion ($580 million) from the release of new share capital and is likely to put most of that windfall towards the RMB5.85 billion cost of two new factories.
Longi announced plans today for a RMB4.3 billion, 15 GW annual production capacity ingot and wafer fab and for a separate, RMB1.55 billion cell factory – for which it did not release a capacity figure. Both facilities will be built in the city of Yinchuan, provincial capital of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region in China’s northwestern PV heartland.
Longi said the cell factory is expected to be operational in the first half of next year with the ingot and wafer fab due to follow in the second half.
The solar giant is the latest of China’s Tier 1 PV producers to invest in aggressive expansion on the back of an expected solar gold rush this year, with China targeting grid parity solar energy and PV markets around the world flourishing.
The expansion plans were announced despite Longi’s latest financial updates forecasting a 28% fall in expected profits for this year – a reduced figure despite an anticipated 34% rise in sales revenue on last year’s performance.
Source: pv magazine
