(Yicai Global) March 30 -- Huadong Heavy Machinery, a supplier of port machinery and equipment, said it will build a high-efficiency solar cell factory with fixed asset investment of CNY2 billion (USD290 million), becoming the latest Chinese firm to diversify into the photovoltaic industry.

Huadong Heavy inked a deal with the Peixian Economic Development Zone in China's eastern Jiangsu province to build the project, the Wuxi-based company said late yesterday. The plant will have an annual capacity of 10 gigawatts, it added.

The project will use large silicon wafers to produce N-type tunnel oxide passivated contact, or TOPCon, and heterojunction technology, or HJT, high-efficiency solar cells, Huadong Heavy added.

Construction of the 3.5 GW first phase is expected to be completed by the end of September by leasing an existing factory building, with the remaining capacity to be operational within six months after construction of a new plant is finished, it added.

After becoming fully operational, the project will likely add CNY10 billion (USD1.5 billion) to Huadong Heavy's annual sales income, and pay CNY200 million (USD29 million) in taxes, according to the company.

Two major shareholders of Huadong Heavy transferred 8.5 percent of the firm's shares to a new energy private equity investment fund, initiating the move into the solar industry, the company announced on March 27.

New solar cells such as TOPCon are more efficient in converting sunlight into electricity compared with traditional solar cells, allowing newcomers to enter the field.

Many listed firms, including online game developer Xiamen 35.Com Technology, drugmaker Sunflower Great Health, industrial testing equipment supplier Zhengye Technology, and dairy cow breeder Royal Group, have already announced plans to build high-efficiency solar cell plants.

Shares of Huadong Heavy [SHE: 002685] ended 0.3 percent higher at CNY4.03 (63 US cents) apiece today, after jumping by as much as 2.5 percent in the morning trading session.

Editor: Martin Kadiev