Chinese PV Industry Brief: JinkoSolar commissions 20 GW n-type ingot fab in Qinghai Province

Module manufacturer JinkoSolar has started manufacturing activities at its new n-type ingot factory in Xining, Qinghai Province. The factory has a capacity of 20 GW and should reach full utilization rate by the end of the summer. Jinko is currently increasing the manufacturing capacity of n-type products to respond to the technical shift from p-type to n-type solar modules. With the recent commissioning of two n-type solar cell manufacturing bases in Anhui and Zhejiang, Jinko reached 16.9 GW if n-type TOPCon solar cell capacity at the end of June.

Panel manufacturer DAH Solar sealed a deal with the government of Chaohu City, Anhui Province, to set up a 5 GW factory to produce n-type TOPCon solar cells and modules.  The company wants to invest $307 million in the new facility. The beginning of manufacturing activities is scheduled for the beginning of 2023.

Polysilicon and solar cell manufacturer Tongwei raised the price of all of its solar cells this week. The company priced its PERC 182 mm cells at CNY 1.26 ($0.19) per watt, up 5%, and its PERC 210 mm cells at CNY 1.23 per watt, up 4.24%. It also increased the price of its M6 cells by 6% to CNY 1.24 per watt. Tongwei's cell prices have been trending upward since the beginning of 2021

Energy giant China Power International Development will assume ownership of a raft of clean energy companies including more than 350 MW of solar generation capacity. The state-owned utility this week announced it will issue the equivalent of 14.19% of its stock in a deal worth CNY 5.78 billion to acquire facilities, including 294 MW of solar. It will also pay CNY 1.67 billion cash in a separate arrangement to acquire projects that include 56 MW of solar. The selling companies are subsidiaries of the State Power Investment Corporation Ltd, which is also China Power’s controlling shareholder. As part of the purchases, China Power will also have the right of first refusal to acquire any future clean energy projects the business units may wish to sell.

State-owned developer Beijing Energy International last week announced it had awarded a CNY 317 million engineering, procurement, and construction contract for the 150 MW first phase of a planned 300 MW agrivoltaic plant in Baise City, in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The contract was awarded to state-owned China Jikan Research Institute of Engineering Investigation and Design Co Ltd and private company Xi’an Boao Power Engineering Co Ltd.

Comtec Solar last week announced its auditors had calculated expected credit losses for 2021 would mean an annual loss of CNY 61.3 million ($9.13 million). The unaudited figures published by Comtec at the end of March had estimated an annual loss of CNY 44.9 million.

Solar developer Shunfeng International has negotiated a deal for state-owned investor Sino Alliance Capital to take receipt of a 70 MW solar plant in Xinjiang in return for writing off a CNY 664 million ($99.1 million) debt. Sino Alliance, which is indirectly owned by China’s Ministry of Finance, has been owed HKD 661 million ($84.2 million) since the end of 2020. The Shunfeng investor has agreed to take ownership of Shunfeng solar project company Xinjiang Pu Xin Cheng Da Energy Technology Ltd with the asset worth a nominal CNY 528 million. Sino Alliance will also agree to write off the other HKD 155 million it is owed by Shunfeng. The proposed project transfer, which would leave Shunfeng with 176 MW of solar generation capacity, will be subject to a vote by independent shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting. Shunfeng, which this week said it is owed CNY 601 million in three years’ worth of unpaid state solar subsidies, saw a proposed CNY 890 million sale of 132 MW of solar capacity to a state-owned buyer fall through in June, with the deal complicated by a court freeze on the developer’s assets. An updated list of overdue creditors published by Shunfeng indicated True Bold Global Ltd has been owed HKD 162 million since November 2019; the investors in a 2015 convertible bond (CB) have been claiming CNY 330 million since March 2020; backers of a 2016 CB have been owed CNY 255 million since October 2021; Rainbow Fort Investments has been due HKD 263 million since May 31; and the Hong Kong branch of China Minsheng Banking Corp has been owed HKD 141 million since June 30.