China’s Drinda To Add 5 GW Solar Cell Facility In Türkiye

Chinese mid-tier PV firm Drinda New Energy Technology has announced plans to build its second overseas high-efficiency solar cell production base in Türkiye. The announcement by its subsidiary Jietai New Energy has been made even as the largest solar expo in the world and in China, the SNEC PV Expo is set to start later next week. Expect a lot more announcements of Chinese JVs at the expo.

Drinda’s subsidiary Jietai New Energy Technology has partnered with Turkish new energy company Schmid Pekintaş Energy to build an N-type high-efficiency solar cell plant with an annual production capacity of 5 gigawatts. the deal was announced on June 2 by Jietai. For Drinda, overseas expansions have become a critical tool for future sustainability, with better margins than the home market in China, where overcapacity has crushed profits. The firm’s overseas capacity has moved from 5% in 2023 to 25 percent in 2024. It has another key 10 GW production project underway in Oman as well with an investment of $700 million.

Founded in 2014 by Turkish construction giant Pekintaş Holding and German PV firm Schmid Group, Schmid Pekintaş is Europe’s largest PV module manufacturer and a long-term customer of Drinda.

Türkiye has emerged as the leading European manufacturer of PV modules with a production capacity of over 15 GW. That has made it an ideal launch pad for the European market, where PV additions have been nudging towards 35 GW annually. With limited corresponding solar cell production of less than 5 GW annually, the attraction as a solar cell market for Chinese firms was a natural outcome, where Jietai is stepping in now. Even as the European market regulators at the EU work on a way to restrict imports, to protect European PV sector manufacturers and jobs.

Founded in 2003, Drinda was mainly an auto parts firm that acquired acquiring Jietai in 2022 to make a pivotal shift into solar manufacturing, especially solar cells. Until then, Jietai  was among the leading solar cells focused.

As of year-end 2023, before it started its overseas expansion. Jietai boasted a 40GW N-type production capacity. 2024 H1, 19.21GW of solar cell products were dispatched, with N-type cells constituting 16.43GW, securing the top ranking in N-type cell shipments for six consecutive quarters.