A big solar water heater producer, China Himin Solar Co., Ltd., plans to launch an joint venture manufacturing plant in India, said Huang Ming, chairman of the Chinese firm, on Thursday at on-going Delhi International Renewable Energy Conference 2010.

Huang said his firm is in talks with the Indian side to build a 50:50 joint venture in Delhi area to produce solar water heaters.

He said the Chinese side will provide technology and production line with its Indian partner as well as taking care of marketing.

The total investment will be several hundred million yuan and initial capacity will be 10,000 to 50,000 square meters with ultimate capacity at 1 million square meters.

The plant will mainly assembly components imported from China in the initial stage, said Huang.

The joint venture could be unveiled in the next few months and could be the first overseas manufacturing plant of China Himin Solar with additional talks going on to build factories in Mexico and the United States.

Huang said the joint venture will produce high-end products and it's risky to take up low-end products in solar water heater business under current circumstances.

Huang suggested his Chinese peers to take the form of joint venture in expanding presence in Indian market, noting the difficulties to be faced by wholly foreign-funded solar companies.

Huang added that China's solar water heater players could export industrial standards and technologies to both developed and developing countries, which marks a significant achievement for Chinese manufacturers.

Now, China Himin Solar has 3 million square meters of its solar water heaters to be installed while exporting marginal share of products to India.

Based in East China's Dezhou, China Himin Solar has strong research capacities with near 200 patents in China.

The three-day event draws more than 9,000 delegates from over 40 countries, including more than 600 exhibitors.

Delhi International Renewable Energy Conference 2010 is the forth its kind after the ones in Bonn in 2004, Beijing in 2005 and Washington in 2008.

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