Henan Ancai Hi-Tech Co. Ltd. has announced that a new PV glass plant operated by its subsidiary Xuchang Ancai Energy Technology Co. Ltd. has successfully come online. The inauguration (or furnace ignition) ceremony for the PV glass plant was held on April 20. The plant is located in Xiangcheng County, southwest of Xuchang, which is a prefecture-level city in China’s Henan Province. With an annual production capacity of 48 million square meters, the plant is touted as the cornerstone of a developing local PV industry cluster that is expected to reach up to RMB hundreds of billions in scale. This news was first reported by local Chinese news outlets and other renewable energy news websites.
Ancai is reportedly to have invested RMB 1.08 billion into the new PV glass plant, which spans an area of 48 million square meters. The company stated that the plant adopts the latest processing techniques and equipment systems so as to manufacture ultra-thin and large-size glass panels for PV modules. The company also emphasized that the glass sheets from the new plant will meet the demand related to modules featuring 182mm and 210mm cells. The increase in size has become a notable trend in the development of PV modules, and Ancai does not want to miss out on the related opportunities.
Once the new plant is in full operation, Ancai expects it to make significant contributions to the expansion of the company’s PV glass business. It will synergize with the company’s other existing PV glass production facilities and thereby optimize the product mix and lower the manufacturing cost. This, in turn, will have a positive effect on the company’s revenue generation and enhance the company’s competitiveness in the PV glass market. According to the reporting by other news outlets, the new plant in Xuchang is estimated to produce an annual revenue of around RMB 1.04 billion and an annual taxable income of around RMB 180 million.
Henan Investment Group Co. Ltd., which is majority-owned by the government of Henan, is setting up a major PV industry cluster in Xuchang. It should be noted that Xiangcheng is under the jurisdiction of the city. Regarding the new PV glass plant, its construction formally commenced on May 20, 2021. The period during which this project advanced from groundbreaking to furnace ignition lasted just 11 months. Ancai pointed out that the plant actually entered operation 16 months ahead of schedule.
Following the completion this project, the local governments and Henan Investment Group will proceed to build out the rest of the PV industry ecosystem that is expected to reach at least 30GW in annual production capacity. Moreover, Xiangcheng is to serve a model for the implementation of the high-quality economic development strategy at the regional level.