GCL-Poly Energy offers $110m loan to subsidiary

GNE Development will use the funds to shore up its general working capital, according to a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange. The interest rate on the loan is 7.3% per annum.

In January, GCL-Poly Energy unveiled a number of solar O&M and leasing deals it had struck with various other companies in the group. It announced the agreements, which dated back to 2016, as part of disclosure requirements for a new share subscription by GCL New Energy, its Hong Kong-listed solar O&M subsidiary.

GCL System Integration Technology, a Shenzhen-listed PV module supplier, holds a 10.01% stake in GCL New Energy. Last year, GCL System Integration Technology finished building one of the largest commercial rooftop PV arrays in Israel. It installed the 200 kW system in Tlalim — a kibbutz in the southern part of the country — in cooperation with local developer Enerpoint.

Earlier this month, GCL System Integration Technology agreed to start a $930 million solar manufacturing venture in India with Japanese telecoms group, SoftBank. The two sides plan to set up a 4 GW solar production facility in the state of Andhra Pradesh. They will make solar ingots and wafers, as well as PV cells and modules. GCL System Integration Technology will take a 40% stake in the venture, while SoftBank will hold the remaining 60% interest.

The new Indian venture follows GCL System Integration Technology’s launch last July of a PV cell production facility in Vietnam. The company, in cooperation with local partner, Vina Solar, aims to crank out about 600 MW of solar cells per year, with more than half of that capacity to be devoted to the production of passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) solar cells.

Separately, the GCL-Poly group recently set up a new venture to open a 20 GW monocrystalline ingot factory in Qujing, in southwestern China’s Yunnan province. It will build the facility in cooperation with the local authorities, with the total investment expected to reach roughly $1.4 billion.