PV demand in Chinese market in the first half of 2016 was extremely strong, while the demand to mono-si products increased as well. LONGi Group, one of China’s largest mono-si PV products manufacturer, unveiled its financial results for 1H16, in which the revenue increased by 282.51% YoY to RMB 6.424 billion. Net income attributable to shareholders was RMB 861 million, up YoY by 634.17%.

Strong demand plus LONGi’s high efficiency products explained the financial boom in the first six months of 2016, says LONGi. The group has invested RMB 340 million in R&D for mono-si wafers, cells and modules, optimizing manufacturing process and successfully reduced wafer’s production costs by 33%. LONGi expects to start production of new PV cell capacity in the second half of 2016, so the self-owned PV cell production will significantly increase in near future.

A RMB 1.637 billion investment in Kuching factory

On August 17, LONGi announced the establishment of LONGI (Kiching) Sdn. Bhd. with an investment amount to RMB 1.647 billion. LONGI (Kuching) will immediately start construction on factory for capacities of 300MW of mono-si ingot, 1GW of mono-si wafer, 500MW of mono-si cell and 500MW of mono-si module.

The LONGI (Kuching) plant was acquired from SunEdison in early 2016. LONGi decided to establish a new subsidiary and expand production lines on basis of SunEdison’s existing equipment. The LONGI (Kuching) will be a mono-si-focused plant and is scheduled to start production in the first quarter of 2017. Over the expected 15 years of operation, LONGi projects to create an annual revenue of RMB2.123 and net income of RMB 89.44 million.