Polysilicon supplier and solar cell maker Tongwei announced on Friday that it signed an agreement with the government of Meishan City, in Sichuan Province, for the deployment of 32GW of new solar cell capacity. The company wants to invest around $1.9 billion in the capacity expansion plan that will be implemented in two 16GW phases by the end of 2023.

State-owned China Energy Engineering had 953MW of solar generation capacity last year, annual figures released on Wednesday indicated. A 413-page annual report gave details of under-construction PV projects including a 500MW, RMB1.65 billion (US$260 million) site in Shahe; a 120MWp, RMB488 million (US$76.8 million) facility in Yanchi; a 100MW, RMB423 million (US$66.6 million) plant in Hainan; a 50MW, RMB208 million (US$32.7 million) scheme in Wulan County; and two projects of unspecified scale – one of them agrivoltaic – with budgets amounting to a further RMB559 million (US$88 million). The engineer posted profits for shareholders of RMB6.5 billion ($1.02 billion) last year.

State-owned solar panel glassmaker Irico New Energy on Tuesday raised RMB9.15 million (US$1.44 million) by selling its 39% stake in quartzite mining and kyanite and silica ore processing company Hanzhong Jiarunze to the Irico Import & Export business owned by Irico Group, which is itself owned by China Electronics Corp. On Wednesday, the glassmaker published annual accounts showing PV panel products supplied RMB2.05 billion (US$323 million) of its RMB2.07 billion (US$326 million) revenue as the business posted a net profit for shareholders of RMB163 million (US$25.7 million), down from the RMB202 million (US$31.8 million) banked in 2020. With the manufacturer investing in new production lines, the company's bank balance fell from RMB718 million (US$113 million) at the end of 2020 to RMB702 million (US$110 million); long term borrowings rose from RMB230 million (US$36.2 million) to RMB472 million (US$74.3 million); and spending on construction last year came in at RMB531 million (US$83.6 million), up from RMB368 million (US$57.9 million) a year earlier.

State-owned manufacturer Luoyang Glass said it “ignited for production” the first phase of a solar cell packaging materials manufacturing facility on Tuesday. The fab is being developed by Luoyang’s NBM (Tongcheng) New Energy Materials Company Limited unit. The China National Building Materials Group-owned business did not issue any more details about the site but did publish its 2021 results on Wednesday. The 13.6 million square meters of solar panel glass made by Luoyang last year generated RMB2.75 billion (US$433 million) of the company’s total RMB3.6 billion (US$567 million) revenue for a solar glass trade net profit of RMB220 million (US$34.6 million). Total net profits for shareholders fell, though, from RMB373 million (US$58.7 million) in 2020, to RMB265 million (US$41.7 million) last time out. That was in part down to RMB1.69 billion (US$266 million) paid out for construction last year, up from RMB238 million (US$37.5 million) in 2020, and because a debt reorganization in 2020, which brought RMB29.5 million (US$4.64 million) of benefits in that year, saved Luoyang only RMB382,000 (US$60,100) last year. Nevertheless, the glassmaker’s end-of-year cash pile sat at RMB1.12 billion (US$176 million) at the end of December, up from RMB338 million (US$53.2 million) a year earlier.

The government of Yunnan Province announced a plan to deploy another 50GW of PV over the next three years. Through the plan, the provincial government will combine solar with wind power, hydropower, coal power, and battery storage.

Solar module manufacturer JinkoSolar announced it will supply up to 1GW of its n-type Tiger Neo panels to CNNC Rich Energy Corporation Limited. The company said it had shipped over 2 GW of this kind of advanced N-type panels since its first launch in November.

PV module maker and solar developer Risen Energy announced on Thursday it sold a 50MW solar plant in Suzakskyi District, Turkestan Region, Kazakhstan, to a unit of China's largest nationally-owned energy enterprise, the State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC). The plant was sold for $32.8 million.