Energy storage battery manufacturer Cornex signed an investment agreement with the Wuhan Municipal Government, Hubei Province, to launch Phase II of its Wuhan new energy battery production project. The facility is planned to have an annual capacity of 80 GWh, covering power batteries, energy storage batteries, and PACK modules. The company stated that its effective annual lithium battery capacity exceeded 110 GWh by the end of 2025, with more than 400 GWh under construction and a total planned capacity of over 500 GWh.
Solar and storage manufacturer JinkoSolar plans to invest RMB 1.135 billion to retrofit its solar cell factory in Hefei, Anhui Province. According to Environmental Impact Assessment documents filed with the local ecology and environment bureau, the funds will be allocated to 3 technical transformation projects, including:
213 mm cell upgrade (RMB 152 million): Introducing automation equipment to achieve full line compatibility with 213 mm large-format wafers.
1/4-cut upgrade (RMB 789 million): Retrofitting 2 existing cell projects with new equipment to enable the manufacturing of 1/4-cut cells.
Bifaciality enhancement (RMB 194 million): Adding laser and ALD tubular rear passivation equipment to optimize the rear finger Poly-Si structure, expected to increase bifaciality by approximately 4%.
On the earnings side, JinkoSolar recently forecast widening losses for FY2025 (see China Solar PV News Snippets).
PV encapsulant manufacturer Crown Material has decided to terminate its planned solar backsheet and functional film production base. Instead, it will redirect funds to a special functional film factory for next-generation solar cell encapsulation. The company originally planned to invest RMB 5.0 billion in Feidong, Hefei, Anhui Province, to be implemented in 2 phases. Phase I aimed to produce 300 million m² of solar backsheets and 200 million m² of functional films annually.
Crown cited a sharp contraction in the backsheet market as the reason behind this termination. It now plans to invest RMB 290 million to build a 350 million m² annual-capacity facility for special functional films in Yichun, Jiangxi. This facility will specifically manufacture 0BB smart wire functional films for BC modules.
The Hunan Provincial Development and Reform Commission officially issued implementation rules for the management of distributed PV development and construction, effective for 5 years.
The regulation stipulates that general C&I projects (grid connection voltage under 10 kV, capacity under 6 MW) opting for ‘surplus power to grid’ must maintain a self-consumption rate of no less than 50% (excluding public institutions). For large C&I projects (35 kV/ 20 MW, or 110 kV/50 MW) participating in the spot market, the annual self-consumption rate must be at least 80%.
The results of Shanxi Province's latest mechanism tariff bidding have been released. The auction originally targeted to allocate a total mechanism volume of 9.576 billion kWh (3.527 billion kWh for wind and 6.049 billion kWh for solar), with a bidding range set between RMB 0.2/kWh and RMB 0.32/kWh. A total of 5,272 PV projects were selected, securing a total electricity volume of 4.63 billion kWh at a mechanism price of RMB 0.316/kWh. Meanwhile, 37 wind power projects were selected, totaling 3.56 billion kWh at a price of RMB 0.277/kWh.
Late last month, the Shanxi Energy Administration announced plans to develop large-scale solar PV and wind projects with a total planned capacity of approximately 15 GW (see China Solar PV News Snippets).
