(Yicai Global) Sept. 16 -- JA Solar Technology will kick off a CNY10.39 billion (USD1.5 billion) capacity expansion plan, including CNY2.17 billion for new solar cell projects, to meet rapidly growing market demand for high-efficiency products, it said in a statement yesterday.

The Shanghai-based solar power giant will self-fund the expansion, mainly with shareholders’ contributions or loans from them and financial institutions, per the statement.

JA Solar’s shares [SHE:002459] reported 6.94 percent up at CNY28.65 (USD4.19) at midmorning.

The company aims to invest CNY1.45 billion in an industrial park in Vietnam’s northeastern Bac Giang province to build a high-efficiency solar cell production line with an annual 3.5-gigawatt capacity. The project is slated for completion and start of operation within 15 months. The firm will also shell out CNY700 million (USD102.5 million) on a new high-power solar module production line and supporting facilities in the park, with an annual output of 3.5 gigawatts, which is set to finish and start running within 11 months.

JA Solar also plans outlays of CNY1.72 billion in Yangzhou in eastern China to build a new high-efficiency solar cell plant with a 6-gigawatt output, CNY671 million in northern Hebei province and CNY5.83 billion in southwestern Yunnan province for new silicon wafer processing production lines.

These projects will improve the company's positioning in the solar energy industry chain and its coordination between various businesses in it, the statement added.

JA Solar, which formed in 1993 has also penned an estimated CNY9.1 billion raw material supply contract with the Xinte Energy unit of Xinjiang-based power transformer and electrical equipment maker TBEA to supply 97,200 tons of polysilicon raw materials before the end of 2025. TBEA [SHA:600089] also rose 0.81 percent to CNY8.73 on the news this morning.

Editor: Ben Armour