China’s State Power Investment Corp. (SPIC) has begun construction of a HJT solar cell and module manufacturing plant in Suining, Sichuan Province. The project envisages the creation of a 10 GW production capacity. The total investment is RMB 8 billion (US$1.1 billion).

The project will be implemented in two stages. In the first stage, with an investment of RMB 5 billion, a production line for 5 GW of HJT solar cells and modules per year will be built. The start of production is scheduled for October 2025. The plant will be operated by SPIC New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of SPIC specializing in new energy sources.

SPIC has developed copper-grid heterojunction (C-HJT) technology, which replaces silver in cell busbars with copper. This has reduced production costs. The company reports that R&D has achieved a solar energy conversion efficiency of 26.49%. SPIC says it has formed a complete technical cycle from laboratory research to large-scale production and redefined industrial standards for C-HJT technology.

Several companies are experimenting with replacing silver with copper in solar panel production. In 2022, China’s Suzhou Maxwell Technologies and Australia’s SunDrive achieved an efficiency of 26.41% for an n-type HJT solar cell without using silver. Aiko Solar also produces silver-free modules.
The solar module market is characterized by high competition and oversupply. Despite this, new companies with significant investment opportunities continue to enter the market.