On March 18, Shuangliang Group held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new monocrystalline silicon project in the Baotou National Rare Earth Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone. Notable figures who were at this event included Zhang Rui, Mayor of Baotou and Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee; Wang Xiulian, Member of the Municipal Party Group of Baotou; Wang Zhanyuan, Secretary General of the Municipal Government; and Miao Wenbin, Chairman of Shuangliang Group. Wang Xiulian made the opening remarks for the event. This news was first reported by local media platforms such as Baotou Daily News.
Located in Baotou, a city in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the project spans an area of around 823 mu and has a production capacity of 50GW per year for large-sized monocrystalline silicon rods. Besides the main plant building for growing crystals, the project site will accommodate a 220kV substation, an argon recovery facility, and other supporting facilities. The total investment in the project comes to around RMB 1.05 billion.
For the project, Shuangliang will deploy the state-of-the-art equipment. Examples include an advanced crystal growing furnace and an integrated system for multi-wire cutting, grinding, and polishing. Furthermore, the project will incorporate a digital collaborative scheduling system so as to achieve intelligent production. Once up and running, the project is expected to generate annual output value of RMB 26.08 billion and provide 5,000-plus new jobs.
An employee dormitory complex is also being built at the project site. The dormitory complex will include employee dormitory buildings, standalone apartment buildings and a center for cultural and sporting activities. Shuangliang said the number of workers that this complex will accommodate comes to 1,554. Furthermore, each housing unit within the complex will meet a high standard for living conditions and be fully furnished.
Shuangliang will build the new monocrystalline silicon project in Baotou over three phases. The project is a part of Shuangliang’s mega industrial park for the manufacturing of PV products in Baotou. Once completed, the project will add 100GW per year for monocrystalline silicon, 80GW per year for complementary new materials, and 20GW per year for PV products. Due to its huge scale, Shuangliang’s PV industrial park will provide a significant amount of momentum to the development of Baotu as the “Green Silicon Valley of the World”.
According to various sources of industry news, prices of large-size monocrystalline silicon wafers have been firm in China during the recent period. Furthermore, profit margin has reached a new high in almost a year for these products. Industry analysts expect wafer prices to hold steady in the short term. Additionally, polysilicon prices have gone down lately, and this, in turn, has boosted profit margin for wafers.