Leading ‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Trina Solar has officially started ramping its solar cell and module assembly plant in Rayong, Thailand, meeting every milestone on schedule, from groundbreaking to production, according to the company.
Trina Solar’s first manufacturing facility outside China was initially announced in May 2015 with 700MW of nameplate solar cell capacity using its ‘Honey’ multicrystalline PERC solar cell technology and 500MW of PV module capacity.
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The company also highlighted that financing for the new production plant was facilitated by a consortium of banks led by the Siam Commercial Bank Public Company Limited (SCB), sad to be one of the top three domestic banks in Thailand to the tune of US$143 million, maturing in June 2020.
Jifan Gao, chairman and CEO of Trina Solar said: “The investment in Thailand fits our strategy of prudent capacity expansion in select overseas markets to deliver industry leading products to customers in the US and Europe in particular as we strive to increase the profitability of the company.”
In February, 2016 Trina Solar also announced it has purchased bankrupt solar cell producer Solland Solar in the Netherlands to further support its ability to provide non-tariff products to Europe and the US. Before its closure, Solland Solar had around 200MW of solar cell capacity and had signed a major supply deal with Trina Solar in mid-2015.
The company expects total PV module shipments between 6.3GW and 6.55GW in 2016, which includes 450MW to 550MW shipped to its downstream PV project business.
Trina Solar recently reported full-year total solar module shipments of 5.74GW, an increase of 56.8% from 3.66GW in 2014.
