(Yicai Global) Feb. 20 -- Hunan Huamin Holdings Group, a Chinese manufacturer of castings, announced a plan to invest CNY1 billion (USD146 million) in a joint venture to build a new high-efficiency solar wafer production plant.

The new plant, to be located in Xuancheng, Anhui province, will have the capacity to produce 10 gigawatts of heterojunction batteries a year, the Changsha-based firm said in a statement late yesterday, without providing a construction timetable.

Huamin will own 70 percent of the silicon wafer plant. The other investors include its main customers: solar cell producer Anhui Huasun Energy, a wafer process equipment maker, and a semiconductor equipment supplier.

Huamin’s core business has long been the supply of metal wear-resistant materials, but it has recently diversified into the photovoltaic materials industry. Other listed firms, including dairy farmer Royal Group and toy supplier Mubang Hi-Tech, entered the PV industry ahead of Huamin by investing in high-efficiency solar cell or raw material projects.

After jumping by as much as 5.6 percent earlier today, Huamin’s shares [SHE: 300345] closed up 0.4 percent at CNY9.84 (USD1.44) each.

The company said that HJT cells with high photoelectric conversion efficiency are expected to become more mainstream in the industry, and this investment will help it seize market opportunities and complete the strategic upgrade of its business.

High-efficiency solar cells, including HJT cells, accounted for less than 3 percent of China's total PV cell production capacity in 2021, but that share is expected to reach 40 percent by 2025 and more than 75 percent by 2030, according to data from the China Photovoltaic Industry Association.

Editor: Tom Litting