JA Solar breaks ground in its US$1 bn solar cell plant in Vietnam

JA Solar Ltd. Co., one of the world’s largest manufacturers of high-performance solar cells and solar power products based in Shanghai, China, has officially broken ground in the site of its planned solar cell plant in Vietnam.

The JA Solar Vietnam plant will be built at Quang Chau industrial park in Viet Yen district in Bac Giang province. The park has direct access to important roads linking Hanoi, Haiphong and Quang Ninh, and Noi Bai international airport, Haiphong port and Cai Lan port in Quang Ninh and is thus convenient for goods transportation.

The Quang Chau industrial park has a total area of 600 hectares and consists of an industrial park, an urban area, and an entertainment and service area. JA Solar is the 16th project in the park.

Back in July, JA Solar Hongkong Investment, a subsidiary of JA Solar, signed a land rental in-principle contract with Saigon-Bac Giang Industrial Park JSC (SBG), a subsidiary of Kinh Bac Corpoation and developer of Quang Chau industrial park.

According to the contract, JA Solar will rent 88 hectares at the industrial park to build a plantto produce solar cells.

As one of the largest investments in the industrial zone, the JA Solar Vietnam plant has a total investment US$1 billion and an investment capital of US$320 million planned for the first three years. It is expected to have a yearly turnover of US$500 million and will also create 3,000 jobs.

Founded in May 2005, JA Solar has firmly established itself as a tier 1 module supplier. It has eight production facilities in the US, Europe and Japan.

Its silicon wafer, cell and module production capacity has reached 2 gigawatts (GW), 5 GW and 5.5GW respectively. To date, JA Solar has a cumulative shipment of over 17.5 GW. In 2015, the company earned US$2.15 billion in revenue. It now employs 22,000 people.