PVTIME – On the afternoon of 23 November, a large-scale photovoltaic manufacturing plant in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, China, caught fire. The blaze burned fiercely at its peak, but has now been brought under control, with local emergency services confirming there were no casualties. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Witnesses reported the continuous deployment of fire engines and police vehicles from before 14:00, with additional units arriving as late as 17:00. Footage on social media showed thick black smoke billowing from the roof and flames visible on parts of the building’s exterior. Multiple fire engines were positioned around the perimeter of the plant to manage the incident, which disrupted traffic on nearby roads.
It is suspected that the fire started in the factory’s solar cell workshop, though this has not been officially verified. Founded in 2022, the solar technology company operates a 645-mu smart manufacturing base, which was built with a total investment of 11.3 billion yuan. The facility includes production lines for 8GW of high-efficiency n-type PV cells and modules, as well as supporting distributed PV power stations.
Given the high level of automation and the significant investment in the production lines for PV cells and modules, such fires typically result in losses starting at 100 million yuan. It is unclear whether the plant will resume operations following the incident.
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