China's Tongwei Group to Build World's Largest Solar-Cell Plant costing $1 billion, producing 5 GW a year

China-based Tongwei Group Co. will build the biggest solar power plant located in the southern province of Sichuan, China.

According to a Bloomberg report, the project will cost about $1 billion and can produce up to 5 gigawatts of solar cells every year. According to the new Energy Finance analyst Wang Xiaoting, the factory costs 20 cents per watt and could be included in a medium-term plan.

See News has reported that the Chengdu-based food producer initiated the construction of the plant on Wednesday. Once the photovoltaic (PV) cell factory starts production, it will become the biggest PV cell manufacturing plant in the world.

Digi Times reported that Tongwei has built a polysilicon factory in Western China that can produce 15,000 tons a year. It has also built a solar cell factory with a 2.3 GWp capacity in northern China. Tongwei held a groundbreaking ceremony for its crystalline silicon solar cell plant located in Chengdu, western China. The factory occupies 80-hectares of land and will have an annual production of 5GWp.

The Chinese government plans to hit a 150 GWp capacity PV plants for the plan period from 2016 to 2020. In line with this Tongwei plans to increase its solar cell capacity to 10 GWp in a period of 3 to 5 years to meet the rising domestic demand. Tongwei has also bought a 10 percent stake in Gintech Energy, a Taiwanese solar cell maker.

The plans, which will be located at the Shuangliu County, will triple the company's total solar-cell capacity, which is expected to have the capacity to create 2.4 gigawatts by the end of 2015.

Xiaoting said, "The supply glut still exists, so expansion will prompt the smallest companies to quit."

Meanwhile, the JA Solar Holdings Co. will reach a 4 gigawatt capacity by the end of 2015. This means it is currently the biggest solar-cell maker in the world.