The Chinese Almaden says it will build a solar glass factory in the United Arab Emirates with an annual capacity of 500,000 tons, in accordance with its plans to expand worldwide as domestic profit drops.
Almaden, a large manufacturer of the Chinese Zonne -Glas in Changzhou, the province of Jiangsu, has unveiled plans to build a production facility for solar glass in the United Arab Emirates, as part of a broader strategic shift to overseas markets.
The relocation, approved by the Almaden board on 25 April, meant an important step in the international expansion of the company, because it encounters a headwind at home, including overcapacity, falling prices and intensifying competition in the Solar Glass sector in China. The financial report of 2024 of the company showed a 20% decrease in the annual turnover to CNY 2.89 billion ($ 397.4 million) and a net loss of CNY 127 million, a dive of 252% on an annual basis. The gross margins fell to only 4.5%.
The new project will be carried out via the entire subsidiary of Almaden in the Middle East and North Africa region (Mena) and will include a melting oven of 1,600 tonnes per day and in-depth lines. The construction is expected to be completed within 18 months.
Almaden mentioned the strategic geographical location of the VAE, favorable logistics, free trade zones and access to affordable energy as important benefits for the expansion.
“The VAE is in the heart of the Middle East and offer connectivity with Europe, South Asia and Africa,” the company said in its announcement.
The facility is expected to shorten the delivery cycles, reduce shipping costs and improve the responsiveness of the global market.
The new capacity includes regular products such as 1.6 mm ultra -thin photovoltaic glass. Analysts said that the project closely matches the expansion of the VAE of Trina Solar, another sun company established in Changzhou with which Almaden has a long -term strategic partnership. In June 2022, the two companies signed a delivery agreement for 337.5 million square meters of 1.6 mm Zonneglas by the end of 2025, rated on CNY 7.425 billion.
Trina Solar, who has already announced an investment of $ 5 billion in a solar production base in the same industrial zone of the VAE, is intended to set up a production chain that includes polys silicon, waffles, cells and high purity voltage modules.
Despite the strategic benefit of the investment, the CNY add 1,753 billion costs of the Financial pressure project to the balance sheet of Almaden. The company’s debt-asset ratio rose to 43.6% at the end of 2024, an increase of almost six points compared to the previous year, while the financing costs almost doubled and rising 99.2% year after year.
The project reflects a wider trend among Chinese solar manufacturers who accelerate their overseas push. Industrie leaders, including GCL technology, Jinkosolar and TCL Zhonghuan, have all launched companies in the middle. The VAE, who positions itself as a regional clean energy hub, has promised AED 200 billion ($ 54.4 billion) to investments with low -carbon poor, and offers fruitful soil for Chinese sun companies that want to diversify and scales abroad.
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