LONGi Green Energy Technology has officially announced the commercial operations of phase I of its Serendah Module Plant in Selangor, Malaysia. Since the company is already producing ingots, wafers and cells in the country, this module plant brings the company's entire value chain to the Asian nation.
While phase I has 2.8 GW installed capacity, phase II of 6 GW will take the company's total module manufacturing capacity at its 1st manufacturing base in West Malaysia to 8.8 GW. Construction on phase II has started simultaneously.
Currently the Chinese company also operates 4 GW ingot and wafer capacity in Malaysia. By the end of 2024, it plans to add 6.6 GW monocrystalline silicon ingot capacity in the country.
In June 2023, LONGi announced plans to raise RMB 20 billion via GDR on the Swiss Stock Exchange to fund 88.75 GW production plans, including 6 GW monocrystalline silicon ingot and 8 GW monocrystalline solar module projects in Malaysia (see Leading Chinese Solar Company Selling GDR To Raise Money).
So far, the company's 8 GW cell capacity in Malaysia, energized between 2017 and 2022, was shipping to the manufacturer's Vietnam module plant. Now starting from Q3/2023, it will gradually also start supplying to the Serendah facility.
The company bought 140 acres of land for the Serendah module plant on August 30, 2022, thus taking a year to build the fab, install the equipment and bring it online.
LONGi said it previously started a module facility in Kuching, Malaysia in May 2017, but had to cease commercial operations in April 2021. Now it has started the Serendah plant to cater to the market outside China.
Furthermore, LONGi had also signed a contract in the early time with OCIM Sdn. Bhd., a Malaysian subsidiary of Korea's OCI Company, for polysilicon supply till February 2024 to 'meet its future business needs' (see Long Term PV Glass & Polysilicon Supply Deals For LONGi).