Chinese PV Industry Brief: Daqo announces $5.2bn investment to expand capacity

Xinjiang-based polysilicon manufacturer Daqo has announced a RMB33.3 billion (US$5.2 billion) investment plan to expand production capacity in Baotou City, Inner Mongolia. The investment, announced yesterday, includes the deployment of a further 200,000 metric tons of annual production capacity for polysilicon, with RMB2.43 billion (US$381 million) allocated for that purpose. Some RMB9 billion (US$1.41 billion) will be devoted to expanding silicon metal and silicone production capacity. Construction of the first, 100,000-ton phase of the project is expected to start in the first quarter of next year with completion scheduled for the second quarter of 2023.

China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) has revealed PV systems with a combined generation capacity of 34.83 GW were connected to the grid from January to the end of November. The country’s cumulative installed PV capacity has reached 287.47 GW, according to the NEA. New wind capacity for the first eleven months of the year was 24.7 GW, the state entity said, bringing cumulative capacity to 304.86 GW.

Manufacturer Xinyi Glass yesterday announced that, based on figures to the end of last month, this year’s net profit is likely to be HK$10.9-11.9 billion (US$1.4-1.53 billion), up from HK$6.4 billion (US$820 million) last year. The rise was partly down to an increased contribution from associated solar panel glassmaker Xinyi Solar, as well as rising construction-driven demand for float glass.

The GCL New Energy solar project development arm of polysilicon maker GCL-Poly on Sunday agreed a deal to buy natural gas from energy company Poly GCL Petroleum, whose ultimate controlling shareholders are also big stakeholders in the purchaser. Under an exclusive one-year supply deal, contingent on GCL New Energy’s plans to develop a hydrogen project in Djibouti, the purchaser would pay a maximum US$0.1335/m³ for the gas, which would come from Poly GCL Petroleum’s Ethiopian deposits. GCL New Energy would pay a US$30 million deposit to secure the arrangement, if the plan is approved. GCL’s solar park business also confirmed, on Sunday, 2 GW of the 2.9 GW of solar generation capacity it sold off this year was disposed of ahead of schedule, to generate cashflow of RMB9.3 billion. In an update to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, GCL New Energy said: “These proceeds will fully settle the debts of the domestic and overseas holding platform companies of the group” as well as funding the solar farms to be constructed in the next year. GCL said any leftover cash will be used to fund the company’s hydrogen business.