(Yicai Global) April 25 -- Ganfeng Lithium, a major Chinese supplier of lithium battery materials that is investing downstream in power batteries, said it will build a new lithium battery plant with an annual capacity of 20 gigawatt-hours.

The new project will be built in two phases, each with an annual capacity of 10 GWh, in the northern Chinese city of Hohhot, the Xinyu-based company said late yesterday, without providing further details.

Investment in the project will amount to CNY10 billion (USD1.45 billion), according to an announcement by the Hohhot government. In addition to the lithium battery production plant, a battery testing center, a battery safety test center, a research and development center and other supporting facilities will be built and put into operation, it said.

It is the fourth-largest lithium battery investment plan that Ganfeng Lithium has come out with since the start of this year.

Following a number of announcements about big investments in lithium battery projects last year, Ganfeng Lithium said in January that it will invest CNY10 billion to build a power battery factory with an annual production capacity of 24 GWh in Chongqing, southwest China.

At the same time, it will invest CNY5 billion (USD723 million) to build a new lithium battery factory with an annual capacity of 10 GWh in Dongguan in China’s southern Guangdong province.

At the end of February, Ganfeng Lithium said it will build an East China power battery base in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, planning to produce 5 GW of power batteries and 10 GW of power battery systems per year.

Editor: Peter Thomas