(Yicai Global) Nov. 24 -- Longi Green Energy Technology, a big Chinese producer of solar panels, said it has received another major order for silicon wafers worth about CNY7 billion (USD1.1 billion).

Das Solar, a renewable energy solutions provider, will buy 1.2 billion solar monocrystalline wafers from Longi over the next two years, per the agreement signed yesterday. Pricing will be decided each month, but based on the current market price of CNY6.90 (USD1.08) per 182-millimeter silicon wafer, the contract is worth about CNY7 billion, Longi said in a statement late yesterday.

The deal is equal to about 12.9 percent of the Xi’an-based company’s revenue last year based on the current average price, and is expected to have a positive impact on its financial performance in the next two years, Longi said.

Longi’s solar monocrystalline silicon wafer output accounts for about half of the global total.

Shares of Longi [SHA: 601012] fell 2.2 percent to close at CNY90.77 (USD14.21) today. The wider Shanghai stock market inched up 0.1 percent.

Zhejiang province-based Das Solar has multiple high-efficiency PV cell and module production bases in China, and it is actively expanding its capacity as demand for silicon wafer raw materials is predicted to grow rapidly. A 10 gigawatt cell and a 10 GW module production capacity are under construction and are expected to be completed by the end of the year, according to its website

Earlier this month, Longi’s Netherlands unit received a temporary cross-border injunction from Rotterdam’s court, which gave a first-instance verdict on a patent dispute between the firm and a South Korean competitor. Longi was banned to sell solar models in nine European countries. It also faced trouble late last month, when US authorities detained 40.31 megawatts of PV panels.

Editor: Futura Costaglione