Jinko Solar – First one in Malaysia

Jinko Solar (JKS) is one of the lowest cost producers of solar panels. The company is vertically integrated and amongst the top three shippers in the last year. Jinko Solar gave a strong set of results for 2014, performing well on all fronts. Net profit for the whole year amounted to $100 million. The company has an annual capacity of 2.5 GW for silicon ingots and wafers, 2 GW for solar cells, and 3.2 GW for solar modules, as of December 2014. Now the company is planning to establish new production facility in Malaysia starting by May 2015.

The company’s cost of production is below 50 cents per watt currently. Not only that the company is also a producer of high efficiency solar products. Jinko Solar achieved 306.9 watts as efficiency level for its Eagle+ modules, when industry average is only 255 watts for a 60-cell module. Jinko has a strong project pipeline, with projections of forming a yieldco soon. The company has established its market share not only in China, USA, Europe and Japan but also in emerging markets like Chile, India, Latin America.

However with production base in China and a dispersed market, Jinko Solar falls within the ambit of anti-dumping duties imposed by USA on China. To circumvent these duties, the company is planning to expand capacity in the south-east Asia. The new production facility will be based in Penang Malaysia, manufacturing solar cells and panels. It will have an initial solar cell and module capacity of 500MW and 450MW respectively. Malaysia is a preferred location because many solar manufacturers like Hanwha Q CELLS, Panasonic and First Solar have production plants there. Thus it has a well-established solar supply chain. Plus it gives Jinko the advantage of geographic expansion and be the first Chinese solar company to invest in Malaysia.

Jinko Solar has been my favorite solar stock. This is a smart move taken by the company to avoid the duties imposed by the US. I wish the company all the very best in its future endeavours.