Chinese power equipment and cable supplier Zhongli Group announced on June 23 that a newly formed affiliate of its PV subsidiary Talesun has entered into a supply agreement with MEJ Energy. Under the agreement, the affiliate will be providing MEJ Energy with modules that total RMB 117.36 million in value. MEJ Energy is based in North Macedonia. The announcement was first picked up by Chinese renewable energy news outlets.
Zhongli has been a leading supplier for fire-resistant power cables in China. It acquired Talesun in 2011 in order to expand into the PV market. Since then, Talesun has risen to become one of the top 10 module suppliers in the Chinese market, and its contribution to Zhongli’s revenue continues to grow steadily.
Regarding Talesun’s latest capacity expansion activities, the company is building a plant for manufacturing cells and modules in China’s Hebei Province. The total investment in this plant is estimated around RMB 5 billion, and the plant will have a production capacity of 5GW per year. Also this March, Talesun signed a cooperation agreement with ARTsolar to set up production capacity for modules in South Africa. This project serves as a bid for the Risk Mitigation IPP Procurement Program that is being implemented by the South African government.
Besides selling PV products, the new affiliate also provides services such as technology development and transfer, consultation, etc. The module contract with MEJ Energy represents a recognition of the quality of Talesun’s PV offerings and another breakthrough in Zhongli’s overseas expansion efforts. Talesun has also captured module orders from customers in Turkey and Poland in the recent period. With the support from Talesun and the newly formed affiliate, the share of PV-related businesses in Zhongli’s revenue is expected to keep growing at a rapid pace.