Chinese PV Industry Brief: Earthquake disrupts wafer production in Yunnan and Qinghai

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Solar manufacturers Longi and Zhonghuan Semiconductor have reported wafer production at their factories in the provinces of Yunnan and Qinghai, respectively, has fallen after two earthquakes which occurred on Friday night and before dawn on Saturday. The shocks had magnitudes of 6.4 and 7.4, respectively. Longi said it had lost 10% of its expected wafer output this month – around 120 million pieces – and Zhonghuan Semiconductor reported output from Qinghai would fall by around 130 MW for the month. Both companies expect normal production to return in a week or so.

Zhonghuan Semiconductor, along with cellmaking peer Tongwei, raised its prices on Friday. The former said the price for its G1 (158.75mm) wafers has risen RMB0.44 (US$0.069) to RMB4.70 (US$0.73) per piece. The cost of Zhonghuan's M6 (166mm) wafer rose RMB0.405 to RMB4.85/pcs. As for the G12 (210mm) wafer, it was priced at RMB7.77/pcs (US$1.21), after an increase of RMB0.62. Tongwei announced its third set of prices this month with its 158.75mm mono PERC cells, whether for single or double-sided devices, rising RMB0.08 (US$0.012) to RMB1.10/Watt (US$0.172). For the 166mm and 210mm products, the price rose RMB0.09 to RMB1.08/W. The price of Tongwei's 157mm multi-crystalline devices rose more than 3.6%, to RMB0.86/W (US$0.134).

Module maker Jolywood on Saturday said a subsidiary has signed an agreement with the city government of Taiyuan, in Shanxi province, to build a TOPCon solar cell factory with a production capacity of 16 GW. The company wants to invest around RMB5.6 billion (US$868 million) in the fab. The project is expected to be developed in two 8 GW phases and to be completed within two years from the start of construction. Jolywood added, the project agreement will be put to a vote by its shareholders.

Manufacturer China Glass on Thursday announced subsidiary Suqian CNG had paid RMB90 million (US$14 million) at auction for a 190m2 plot of land on which it hopes to develop a photovoltaic, ultra-white rolled glass production base at Suqian High-tech Industry Development Zone. The land was sold by the public authorities of Suqian City and the manufacturing base will be developed jointly with public entities, said China Glass.

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