Yingli Solar has reportedly started building a new 5 GW solar module production base in Tang county in Hebei province. The ground-breaking ceremony on the project was held in Changgucheng Industrial Park in Hebei province’s Tangxian Economic Development Zone, and is being developed by Yingli under an agreement with the Tangxian People’s Government.
The manufacturer will be adding this capacity in phases. Phase I is scheduled to come online in June 2021. The 5 GW high efficiency module capacity is estimated to cost an investment of RMB 1.7 billion ($254 million). The planned facility will also produce 2,400 tons of welding ribbons for solar modules, as well as 14.4 million junction box sets and 2,300 tons of enameled wires.
Yingli Solar expects the manufacturing project to yield annual output worth RMB 10 billion ($1.5 billion). Once a world leading producer in the solar PV world, Yingli Solar has been battling huge debts for many years. In June 2020, its solar panel manufacturing subsidiary Yingli Energy was put under judicial restructuring process by its parent in a bid to lower its inflating debt.
REGlobal’s Views: China houses the largest PV manufacturing capacity in the world and Yingli has been one of the oldest players, though no longer a leading manufacturer. In the pursuit of ever lower LCOE, technological disruption has seen leapfrog development within the PV industry. Old giants caught on the wrong side of these developments have suffered as a result.
