Chinese solar firm plotting IPO

China-based thin film solar panel manufacturer Qiangsheng Photovoltaic Technology Co Ltd has become the latest renewable energy firm to signal an interest in a stock market floatation as it seeks to fund its expansion plans.

According to Reuters' reports, the company is planning a $250m Nasdaq IPO later this year or early next. Company chairman Sha Xiaolin said that a listing represented the "only way to fulfil our expansion ambition".

The company, which manufactures thin film solar cells and panels that require significantly less costly silicon than conventional systems, recently opened its first production line boasting a capacity of 25MW a year, but aims to produce 500MW a year by 2010.

Despite the current stock market volatility, the company said that it was already in talks with European and US banks about underwriting its IPO and was confident it would float by "the first quarter of 2009 at the latest".

Thin film solar technologies have attracted considerable investor interest in recent years as supply constraints have caused an increase in the price of silicon.

"There's much more room to make profits for thin-film cell makers, than silicon-based ones," Xiaolin told Reuters, adding that the company expects to generate $10 million in net profit this year, rising to $50 million in 2009.