(Yicai Global) April 26 -- Aiko Solar Energy has announced two new projects aimed at doubling the Chinese solar cell maker’s production capacity in the next five years.

Aiko Solar has signed a deal with Zhuhai in south China to invest a total of CNY18 billion (USD2.77 billion) in building a new solar cell production line with annual output of 26 gigawatts, the Shanghai-based firm said on April 23. With investment estimated at CNY5.4 billion, the first phase will have capacity of 6.5 GW.

In addition, Aiko Solar will construct a new 10 GW battery production line at its Yiwu base. It did not mention the total investment, but said that phase one -- a 2 GW battery manufacturing line -- will cost CNY1.7 billion (USD262 million).

The initial phases of both projects are expected to complete within 12 months.

Aiko Solar will fund the projects via a private placement of shares with specific investors. It will raise CNY3.5 billion from selling nearly 611 million new shares. CNY2 billion of that will go to the Zhuhai project and CNY600 million (USD92.46 million) to the Yiwu project. The rest will supplement working capital.

The projects will promote the industrialization of Aiko Solar’s latest research and development results, enabling it to seize new opportunities, the company said.

Aiko Solar has three large-scale solar cell production bases in China: Yiwu in the east, Foshan in the south, and Tianjin in the north. They are expected to produce total capacity of 36 GW by the end of this year. The world’s current top 10 downstream solar module suppliers are all clients of Aiko Solar, according to its website.

Shares in Aiko Solar [SHA:600732] fell 1.3 percent today to CNY12.05 (USD1.86), after earlier gaining as much as 3.6 percent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost almost 1 percent.

Editor: Tom Litting