$400m plan to harness sun

SHANGHAI: Nantong in northern Jiangsu Province is set to become one of China's key thin-film amorphous silicon solar cell manufacturing bases after Nantong Qiangsheng Photovoltaic Technology Co Ltd (QS Solar) announced it had launched a $400 million project.

A senior company manager said yesterday that the project, China's largest of its kind, will be carried out in three phases within three years.

The first phase, which consists of three sets of 25 MW production facilities, will see the first set put into operation by mid-January of 2008, Sha Xiaolin, chairman of QS Solar, said.