Tongwei breaks ground on 5-GW cell factory in Sichuan - report

Chengdu-based food producer Tongwei Group on Wednesday initiated the construction of a photovoltaic (PV) cell factory with a planned annual production capacity of 5 GW in China’s Sichuan province, Bloomberg reported.

The facility is estimated to require a total investment of roughly USD 1 billion (EUR 939m), according to the report. The plant will be located in the county of Shuangliu, Tongwei was quoted as saying in an email statement.

Once production at the plant kicks off, it will become the biggest PV cell manufacturing facility globally, the news agency calculates. It will increase Tongwei’s total cell capacity more than three-fold, as well.

In July, Tongwei Group unveiled a new partnership with Raiwan's Gintech Energy Corp (TPE:3514) by way of which they will boost the combined capacities of their solar equipment factories to over 5.5 GW. The firm also invests in and operates PV systems, with a 10-GW target for the next 3-5 years. In addition, it has an annual polycrystalline silicon production capacity of 15,000 tonnes.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.939)

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