(Yicai Global) Jan. 18 -- Longi Green Energy Technology, the world’s largest maker of solar monocrystalline silicon wafers, said it will invest CNY45.2 billion (USD6. billion) to expand its capacity to turn out solar wafers and cells.

Longi inked an investment agreement with the management committee of Xi’an-Xianyang New Development Zone yesterday to build the project in the area, the Xi’an-based firm announced late yesterday.

Xi’an is the capital of China’s northwestern Shaanxi province, while Xianyang is a city nearby.

The new plant will have the capacity to make 100 gigawatts of monocrystalline silicon wafers and 50 GW of monocrystalline cells a year, Longi added.

The investment comes despite excess supply in the solar wafer market and will give full play to Longi’s market advantages in technology and products, the firm said.

The project will be built in phases, and will rent the existing building as well as utility facilities to lower costs and save time, Longi added. Its first wafer and cell production lines will go into operation in the third quarter of next year, with the project to be completed at the end of 2025, it noted.

Silicon wafer giants began lowering the asking price of solar wafers two months ago because of a surplus in the supply of upstream raw materials. Longi cut its prices by 27 percent in December from November.

Longi [SHA: 601012] ended up 1 percent at CNY44.73 (USD6.61) in Shanghai today, after jumping by as much as 2.8 percent in morning trading.

Editor: Martin Kadiev