(Yicai Global) Jan. 20 -- JA Solar Technology plans to invest CNY40 billion (USD5.9 billion) to construct a photovoltaic industry cluster in the northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the Chinese solar equipment maker’s fifth production hiking plan costing more than CNY10 billion in the last 14 months.

A regional demonstrative PV industrial base, comprising production facilities along the whole solar industrial chain, will be built in Ordos, the Beijing-based company said yesterday, citing a deal penned between its unit JA Solar and ‘China’s capital of coal’ that day.

There will be a raw materials plant with an annual capacity of 10,000 tons of silicon, which will be powered by locally generated green electricity, it said. There will also be a 20-gigawatt solar wafer facility, a 30-GW high-efficiency PV battery factory and a 10-GW PV module plant. Further details of the hub and the construction schedule were not given.

By making full use of the area’s rich renewable electricity resources and favorable policies, JA Solar Technology will be able to expand its foothold and increase capacity in the PV industrial chain, it said. 

The Beijing-based company has announced more than CNY100 billion (USD14.7 billion) worth of investments in the last 14 months to hike capacity, including five major projects and some smaller ones, as the PV market booms.

JA Solar Technology, which mainly makes solar panels, shipped a record 27.1-gigawatt hours of PV modules in the first three quarters last year, ranking fourth worldwide, according to company data.

The firm is expecting net profit to surge by around one-and-half times last year from the year before, by between 135.4 percent and 174.6 percent, to rake in between CNY4.8 billion (USD708 million) and CNY5.6 billion, JA Solar Technology said earlier this week.

JA Solar Technology's share price [SHE:002459] edged up 0.63 percent to close at CNY66 (USD9.73) today.

Editor: Kim Taylor