(Yicai Global) March 15 -- Sunflower Great Health’s stock price sank after the Chinese drugmaker said it will invest in a high-efficiency solar cell project.

Shares of Sunflower Great Health [SHE: 300111] closed down 5.5 percent at CNY4.15 (60 US cents) each today. The stock jumped 4.6 percent in the morning to CNY4.59, the highest since September 2020, before later plunging by as much as 10.3 percent.

Sunflower Great Health will form a joint venture and build an N-type tunnel oxide passivated contact, or TOPCon, high-efficiency solar cell factory in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, where the company is based, it said late yesterday. The new plant will have an annual capacity of 10 gigawatts, the firm noted.

Sunflower Great Health will own 54 percent of the joint venture, an equity fund invested in Shaoxing 26 percent, and a Shanghai-based private equity fund will hold the rest, according to the agreement. The JV will invest CNY1.5 billion (USD218.3 million) in the project’s first phase, which will take seven months to complete and produce 5 GW of solar cells a year.

New solar cells such as TOPCon are more efficient in converting sunlight into electricity compared with traditional solar cells, allowing newcomers to advance in the industry. 

Many listed firms, including online game developer Xiamen 35.Com Technology, industrial testing equipment supplier Zhengye Technology, and dairy cow breeder Royal Group, had already announced plans to build high-efficiency solar cell plants.

The investment will help Sunflower Great Health grasp development opportunities brought about by the new energy sector and seek new profit growth points, it said, without disclosing how the company will overcome technology barriers and market competition.

Editor: Martin Kadiev