Work started Thursday on China's largest monocrystalline silicon production project in Xining, capital city of northwest China's Qinghai Province.

Located at the Dongchuan Industrial Park of the Xining Economic and Technological Development Zone, the project will have a designed annual production capacity of 1,000 tons, involving an estimated investment of 300 million yuan (37.5 million U.S. dollars).

Upon completion, the project is expected to generate 1.6 billion yuan (200 million U.S. dollars) in annual output value, according to Wang Linhu, director of the management committee of the Dongchuan industrial park.

Wang said that Qinghai will also build a 5,000-ton monocrystalline silicon project on the basis of the current one.

The projects will help meet domestic demand for monocrystalline silicon used for solar cells and lower production cost of such cells, Wang added.

Over the past few years, the solar cell market has grown rapidly in China, with demand increasing by 20 percent to 35 percent annually.

Source: Xinhua