Yingli Green Energy Holding Company has revealed plans to add 700 megawatts of photovoltaic production capacity once financing is ensured, potentially bringing the company’s total production capacity to 1.7 gigawatts.
Through its wholly owned subsidiary Yingli Energy China Company, Yingli Green Energy plans to build 600 MW worth of PANDA mono-crystalline silicon-based manufacturing lines at its Baoding headquarters.
Yingli will also add another 100 MW capacity at its multicrystalline silicon manufacturing base in Haikou, Hainan province.
Both capacity expansions, to begin initial production by mid-2011, will be executed by Yingli Energy China.
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Liansheng Miao, company chairman and chief executive, said the growing demand and interest for the company’s solar modules encouraged them to expand capacity.
He pointed out that robust demand momentum for its Yingli Solar Panda module was driven by its high cell conversion efficiency, which is expected to hit 18.5 percent or higher on commercial production lines by yearend. Higher cell conversion efficiency is also expected to push down balance-of-system costs.
Zongwei Li, director and chief financial officer, said the company will draw funds from its 4 billion Chinese yuan ($601.4 million) cash balance in existing bank accounts.
The company added that it recently secured registration of 2.4 billion yuan medium-term notes that are expected to boost capital structure and cash position.
“Such a robust cash position significantly helps remove the pressure for us to raise funds on stock market to finance the capacity expansion projects,” said Mr. Li.
In July, Yingli Green Energy (NYSE:
YGE
) began initial production of two previous capacity expansion projects of 300 MW in Baoding and 100 MW in Hainan. By the third quarter of 2010, the company’s nameplate capacity will be at 1 GW.
The company also owns Fine Silicon, an in-house polysilicon plant with a 3,000 metric ton production capacity, which started commercial operations in early August.
Yingli Green Energy caters to solar markets including Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, France, South Korea, China and the United States.
