(Yicai Global) April 11 -- Longi Green Energy Technology, the world’s largest maker of monocrystalline solar wafers, will invest CNY3.5 billion (USD508 million) to construct another photovoltaic cell factory to boost the company’s high-efficiency battery output.

The new facility, which will be located in Tongchuan, northwestern Shaanxi province, will have an annual capacity of 12 gigawatts of solar cells, the Xi’an, Shaanxi province-based company said yesterday. The factory should be up and running by the end of 2024. No further details were given.As the firm goes from strength to strength amid a booming global solar market, Longi has been branching out into high-efficiency batteries and other mid-and downstream segments of the PV industrial chain. Longi said last month that its CNY7.8 billion (USD1.1 billion) solar cell plant in Ordos, northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region with a yearly output of 30GW will come online in August.

And other wafer giants are following suit. TCL Zhonghuan, the world’s second-largest wafer producer, said earlier this week that it plans to invest CNY10.7 billion (USD1.6 billion) to build a high-efficiency PV battery factory with an annual output of 25GW.

Longi has been reaping the benefits as more capacity comes online. It logged a 62.6 percent surge in net profit last year from a year earlier to CNY14.8 billion (USD2.1 billion), according to its financial report released yesterday. Revenue soared 60 percent to CNY129 billion (USD18.7 billion).

Longi’s share price [SHA:601012] was trading down 0.9 percent at CNY40.85 (USD6) as of 11.30 a.m. China time today.

Editor: Kim Taylor