The investment is expected to double the facility's annual production capacity from 500MW to 1GW. Longi Solar is investing a total of $309m which will include $240m in construction investment and about $68m in working capital.
Construction of the expanded module facility is scheduled for completion by the end of next August, while the cell factory is set to begin production in January 2020.
LONGi Solar president Wenxue Li said: "The expansion of our Andhra Pradesh factory is part of LONGi's global growth strategy.
"While global demand for solar modules continues to grow, LONGi is making moderate capacity investments in select markets to hedge against the risks of trade protectionism, while remaining focused on the Chinese domestic market.
"According to preliminary estimates, the new expansion will support $380m in annual sales and roughly $19m in net profit every year."
The facility expansion project is being handled by Lerri Solar Technology (India), which is owned 40% by Longi and 60% by Longi Solar.
By ramping up cell and module production capacity, Longi expects that it can take advantage of India’s rich local resources, low costs and generous policies towards the solar industry.
Wenxue Li said: "India is already China's biggest export market for solar products by sales value. During 2017, China'sexports accounted for 24.1 percent of India's solar products, with sales growth seen in both cells and modules."
Image: Longi Solar plans to expand solar manufacturing in India. Photo: Courtesy of RK008/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
