(Yicai Global) July 26 -- Shanxi Coal International Energy Group, a traditional Chinese energy firm, plans to build a factory capable of making 10 gigawatts of high-efficiency solar cells a year as it shifts toward the renewable energy sector.

The Taiyuan-based industry giant, which runs 15 major coal mines, will partner new energy tech developer GS-Solar to build hetero-junction double-sided solar cells, it said in a statement yesterday without disclosing a planned location or cost. The pair will specify details later.

The facility will use monocrystalline silicon wafers as raw materials for the cells, which will be created using GS-Solar's technology, the statement added. The pair will sell the cells on to photovoltaic module makers and solar power stations will wind up as the end users.

Cells made at the factory will have a conversion efficiency as high as 22.5 percent and will be able to generate more power than conventional batteries as they are double sided to absorb more sunlight.

GS-Solar made a similar production line independently in 2016, finishing the 1 gigawatt plant in June 2018.

Editor: James Boynton