The MoU was signed late on Wednesday in New Delhi by the LONGi’s Chairman Baoshen Zhong and Principal Secretary (Energy, Infrastructure and Investment) Ajay Jain.

Andhra Pradesh Government has inked an MoU with China’s XI’AN LONGi Silicon Materials Corp for setting up Rs.1,500-crore solar module and cell manufacturing plant at Sri City, in Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh.

The MoU was signed late on Wednesday in New Delhi by the LONGi’s Chairman Baoshen Zhong and Principal Secretary (Energy, Infrastructure and Investment) Ajay Jain, in the presence of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. Another MoU was signed between Sri City (P) Ltd and XI’AN LONGi Silicon Materials Corp, later.

The XI’AN LONGi Silicon Materials Corp is amongst the top 5 global silicon wafer producers with four production bases in China and 3 GW of wafer capacity. This is one of the major investments from a Chinese company in Andhra Pradesh following the visit of Chief Minister and the delegation from the Government of Andhra Pradesh in April, according to an official release here on Thursday.

The Chinese company will invest in a facility for manufacturing solar cells and modules with the capacity of 500 MW at Sri City. The facility is expected to provide employment to 1,000 people.

The Chief Minister said: “This is a very good investment from China in Andhra Pradesh. Solar power is the best solution for sustainable economic growth. “I want to create a Solar Manufacturing hub in Andhra Pradesh. With the interest in the sector from solar manufacturing companies, I’m hopeful that more than 50 per cent of India’s manufacturing capacity will be set up in A.P. in the long term. Currently, we share 10 per cent of the country’s target for solar power,” the Chief Minister added.

Mr. BaoshenZhong, Chairman, Xi’an Longi Silicon Materials Corporation added: “This plant will manufacture state-of-the-art solar modules with higher efficiency than currently available systems. In this way, we are participating in both ‘Make in India’ as well as ‘Innovate in India’.

Ravindra Sannareddy, Managing Director, SriCity, said this was the largest Chinese investment in Sri City. What made the MoU special was that it was happening exactly a year after the Make in India programme was announced by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.