(Yicai Global) Feb. 6 -- Ming Jewelry, which runs a chain of gold jewelry stores in China, said it plans to tap into the booming photovoltaic industry by investing CNY10 billion (USD1.5 billion) in a high-efficiency solar cell project.

Ming Jewelry will build a super factory with an annual production capacity of 20 gigawatts of high-performance solar cells, including TOPCon and HJT products, in the Economic and Technological Development Zone of Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, the firm said late on Feb. 3. It has signed an investment framework agreement with the zone’s management committee.

The photoelectric conversion efficiency of high-efficiency solar cells is significantly better than for traditional cells, so new projects are attracting investment from companies inside and outside the industry. China’s annual production capacity of TOPCon solar cells is expected to jump by 228.5 GW to 305.9 GW this year, according to an estimate from the Shanghai Metals Market.

Before Zhejiang-based Ming Jewelry, environmental pollution gear supplier Shijing Technology and dairy firm Royal Group also set out plans to enter the high-efficiency solar cell market.

Shijing Technology said early last month that it would invest up to CNY11.2 billion to build a factory with an annual capacity of 24 GW of TOPCon solar cells in China’s eastern Anhui province. Last August, Royal Group said it would spend CNY10 billion on an ultra-efficiency TOPCon solar cell plant with a 20 GW capacity a year and a 2-GW module production plant.

Ming Jewelry had nearly 1,000 gold jewelry outlets in China in 2021, per the firm’s annual earnings report for that year. Operating income from the jewelry business accounted for more than 93 percent of its total revenue in 2021.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione