Canadian and GCL sign JV for China based solar cell production
Canadian Solar has announced that it has entered into an agreement with GCL-Poly Solar to establish a joint venture to build a manufacturing site to produce crystalline silicon solar cells in Funing, Jiangsu Province, China. Under the terms of the agreement, Canadian Solar will own 80% and GCL will own 20% of the equity in the Joint Venture.
In the initial phase, this new solar cell plant will have 300MW annual production capacity. The Company expects multi-crystalline cell conversion efficiency at the Funing plant to reach 19% by the end of 2014. The new site can accommodate annual production capacity of up to 1.2GW of solar cells, if fully built. The decision to expand beyond the initial phase will be subject to market conditions. With the addition of the Funing plant, Canadian Solar's annual cell manufacturing capacity will total 1,560 MW, up from 1,500MW at the end of 2013.
"We are pleased to deepen our strategic cooperation with Canadian Solar, one of the world's leading solar module suppliers and solar energy solutions provider," commented Mr. Gongshan Zhu, Chairman of GCL-Poly. "By leveraging the competitive advantages of both companies, our goal is to manufacture top quality solar cells at industry leading cost structure to deliver competitive solar energy to homes around the world."
"We are delighted to enter this Joint Venture agreement with GCL, the world's largest wafer producer on this solar cell factory in China. GCL is a key strategic partner and major wafer supplier to Canadian Solar and this agreement further extends the strong partnership between the two companies," said Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar. "We believe we are at the very early stages of solar energy adoption around the world, and we continue to see solid market demand for our products. This joint venture further strengthens our position as a global industry leader that can deliver quality modules to meet the growing demand in existing and emerging markets."
Additionally, as previously disclosed, the Company has recently commissioned another module workshop in its flagship factory in Changshu, Jiangsu Province, China, which brings its total annual module production capacity to 3GW.
