Trina moves to buy 72,000 tons of Tongwei polysilicon for 210mm operation

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Having recently signed big silicon wafer and photovoltaic glass procurement deals, Chinese PV manufacturer Trina Solar today announced plans for a minority stake in three joint ventures (JVs) with domestic rival Tongwei Solar.

A spokesperson for Changzhou-based Trina told pv magazine the company would commit $314 million towards the total $896 million registered capital of three tie-ups with Tongwei, with Trina holding 35% stakes in the new entities.

The solar manufacturer, which is focusing its efforts on 210mm wafer-based solar products alongside Tongwei, said it would establish a project company JV with Tongwei-owned polysilicon manufacturer Sichuan Yongxiang Co Ltd and would also establish a new solar manufacturing operation through a JV with Tongwei Solar.

The latter operation, according to Trina, would have an annual production capacity of 40,000 tons of high-purity crystalline silicon and be able to produce 15 GW per year each of silicon ingots, wafers and cells.

In polysilicon procurement terms, Trina said it “intends to purchase Tongwei’s Sichuan Yongxiang Polysilicon Co Ltd; Sichuan Yongxiang New Energy Co Ltd; Inner Mongolia Tongwei High Purity Crystal Silicon Co Ltd; and Yunnan Tongwei High Purity Crystal Silicon Co Ltd between January 2021 and December 2023, for approximately 72,000 tons of polysilicon products in total.”

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pv magazine has been told Trina in fact plans to buy the polysilicon products through a procurement deal with the Tongwei businesses named, rather than intending to acquire the Tongwei units.

Trina said it wants to reach 50 GW of annual solar module manufacturing capacity next year, with most of it dedicated to 210mm-wafer based products.

This copy was amended on 19/11/20 to reflect Trina will inject $314 million of registered capital into three JVs with Tongwei, rather than $32 million into two JVs, as stated in the Trina press release. It was also amended to note Trina will acquire polysilicon products from various Tongwei units rather than buying the businesses themselves.

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