China’s GCL investing US$98 million in next-generation solar technology to revive sector
- Hong Kong-listed firm aims to complete the first phase of a 500MW solar module plant that combines perovskite and crystalline silicon cells by mid-2025
The Hong Kong-listed company aims to complete by the middle of next year the first phase of a 500 megawatt (MW) plant in Kunshan, a city in eastern Jiangsu province near Shanghai, for solar modules that combine cells stacked with perovskite and crystalline silicon, said Fan Bin, chairman of GCL Perovskite.
“The value of the [nascent] perovskite technology lies in the ample room for uplifting its energy conversion efficiency,” he said. “That is why manufacturers are willing to invest in its development.” The future cost of production using the perovskite-silicon technology could be lower than the crystalline silicon technology, he added.
The Suzhou, Jiangsu-based unit will spend 500 million yuan on the equipment and 200 million yuan to fit out a factory with dust-free clean rooms. A second line of the same capacity will be added later.
Fan co-founded the entity in 2013 to commercialise the technology. GCL Tech bought more than 40 per cent of the firm in 2017, giving it a controlling stake.