Xinjiang’s Department of Industry and Information Technology announced in late April that a hearing will be held on a proposed project for the manufacturing of ultra-thin glass panels for PV modules. The developer of the project is Hoshine Group (Hoshine Silicon Industry Co. Ltd.) that is now enlarging its portfolio to include products for PV applications.

The proposed project will be located in the Ganquanpu Industrial Park that is near the city of Urumqi. It will be developed in two phases. The annual glass production capacity and the daily furnace processing (melting) capacity of the entire project site are set at 3 million metric tons and 96,000 metric tons respectively. The project site is currently scheduled to enter operation in June 2023.

Hoshine recently released a report on its performance for 2021. The consolidated net profit attributable to the listed equity holders of the controlling interests is estimated to have reached RMB 8.5-8.7 billion for the year. Hoshine believes that demand rebound in the downstream sections of the supply chain and various industrial policies were the main drivers of revenue and profit. Also, the markets for its main offerings (e.g., metallic silicon materials and organosilicon materials) had entered into a boom period, thereby generating brisk sales.

In the aspect of production, Hoshine reported that its overall capacity utilization rate remained high during 2021. Also, a new project for the manufacturing of silicone sealants had entered into operation. The production capacity of this project can ramp up to 200,000 metric tons per year. As for the production of metallic silicon materials, Hoshine said that it achieved technological breakthroughs last year and was able to raise capacity utilization rate for the related production lines. Hence, the production volumes of its main offerings registered significant year-on-year growth rates for 2021.

Regarding revenue generation, Hoshine noted that the prices of its main offerings registered large year-on-year hikes last year. As a result, its profit also showed a notable year-on-year increase. On the whole, Hoshine has been performing rather well despite being on the US Entity List. This is thanks to the robust downstream demand. As for the decision to set up production capacity for PV glass, the company also appears to count on the continuation of the rapid growth of the renewable energy market.