Ever since the Tongwei Group entered the PV industry, the company started strategy deployment rapidly. The Tongwei Group announced on January 5th 2017 to build 5GW mono-Si ingot capacity with Trina Solar and Longi. Later on the 22nd, the company announced to invest RMB 5 billion in expanding 4GW of high-efficiency cell capacity.
Collaboration among Tongwei, Trina Solar, and Longi
Longi and its subsidiary, Lerri Solar, have always put a lot of effort in mono-Si PV product development. Currently, Longi’s mono-Si wafer capacity is about 7-8GW, while Lerri Solar’s cell and module capacity is 5GW.
Trina Solar is the top-tier maker with more than 5GW of annual module capacity. The company has also made some progress in technology research & development as they launched 22.61% P-type mono-Si PERC cells last December.
Tongwei joined the joint venture through Yongxiang. Yongxiang was acquired by Tongwei New Energy, a subsidiary of Tongwei. Yongxiang is a polysilicon manufacturer, with the current capacity reaching 15,000 tons.
Tongwei, Trina Solar, and Longi will team up to establish 5GW of mono-Si ingot capacity in Lijiang, China through a co-financing of RMB 800 million. The collaboration will be able to fill the insufficient ingot capacities for the three companies.
According to the joint venture agreement signed by the three parties: Longi will contribute RMB 480 million, holding 60% of the total shares; Trina Solar will pay RMB 200 million, a 25% stake; and Yongxiang will contribute RMB 120 million, a 15% share.
Tongwei to become top-tier cell manufacturer
Tongwei completed the acquisition of Tongwei Solar in September 2016, with the cell capacity reaching 3.3GW. On January 22nd, Tongwei Solar signed an agreement in Chengdu to invest RMB 5 billion in 4GW high-efficiency cell capacity expansion. Once the project is completed, Tongwei Solar’s cell capacity will reach 7.3GW.
“Energy consumption reform is already on its way. We need to believe that new energies like solar PV will be the fundamental for future energy development,” said Liu Hanyuan, CEO of Tongwei Group, at the signing ceremony. He indicated that vehicle electrification, energy and clean power generation will be the future trend of energy development. After all these years of development, the PV industry has become increasingly mature.
The investment this time aims at the second/third phase of the 5GW project. The first phase of 1GW has been completed in 2016. It only took seven months from construction to production. The capacity scale for the second/third phase is 2GW and 2GW, respectively. The construction for the second phase will begin in February 2017 and be put into production by the end of 2017. The construction process for the third phase will be decided according to market demand.
(Photo Credit: Tongwei Solar)
