JA Solar’s cell plant had a fire at midnight on July 13, which was estimated to influence 6% of JA Solar’s total cell capacity. In addition, JA Solar has won a 50MW module supply agreement to Malaysia’s first large-scale solar power plant.
JA Solar reported that its Fab 7 solar cell plant in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, China had a fire incident. The fire has been extinguished at around 6:00 AM on the same day, and no one hurts. Cause of the fire remains unknown, and experts have started investigating.
Fab 7 is an old production line that built in 2009 and has been scheduled to be phased out and upgraded in around one year, stated JA Solar. The fab represents less than 6% of JA Solar’s annual solar cell capacity of 5~5.5GW, that is 300~300MW.
Module shipment
On July 13, JA Solar announced that it won the contract to supply 50MW of modules for the country's first utility-scale solar project in Malaysia. The 50MW utility-scale inaugural project, which is located in Sabah, marks a significant milestone in solar energy development in Malaysia.
SPIC Energy Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., a subsidiary of State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC), provided EPC service for the project. SPIC is the largest solar power investor and operator in China, as well as globally. JA Solar provides 50MWac of high-performance Percium mono modules with lower light induced degradation rate, better anti-PID performance and higher power output, which can operate in a hot and humid environment. With all modules provided by JA Solar, the project is currently under construction and expected to be completed by the end of 2017. In addition, the solar project is expected to create more than 200 jobs and resolve the power shortage problem in Sabah.
Mr. Cao Bo, JA Solar's Vice President commented, "We are excited to partner with one of our largest customers, SPIC, again in an overseas market. We believe this win demonstrates our value proposition and technical innovation with high-performance solar modules. We have invested USD163 million in our Penang, Malaysia manufacturing operation to produce poly and mono cells with the annual capacity of 1000MW. From the China-Malaysia relationship standpoint, investing in manufacturing facilities and sharing our technical expertise in Malaysia, a rapidly growing market, remains our top priority. Additionally, we look forward to serving our global partners and customers by providing the highest-quality solar products and services."