The Indonesian government secured USD 11.5 billion of investment commitment from a Chinese company during Indonesia’s President two-day visit to Chengdu, China, on July 27-28. Indonesia’s Investment Minister who accompanied The President on the trip, stated that the commitment came from one of the world’s largest glass producers, Xinyi, to develop a glass and solar panel manufacturing facility. Xinyi is committed to building a manufacturing plant in Rempang Island, Batam. It will be the second-largest factory in the world after China. Xinyi factory will later become a downstream factory of quartz sand and other raw materials in Indonesia. The output will be almost 95% for export because the market is overseas. Factory in Rempang Island will also build a solar panel facility for the export market, adding that Xinyi’s investment would help create around 35,000 jobs.
Xinyi had already invested USD 700 million in Indonesia last year to build a factory in Gresik, East Java. Indonesia has a potential resource of 25 billion tons of quartz sand, with total reserves reaching 330 million tons, according to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources data in 2021. Quartz sand is the main raw material for making glass and solar panels. Meanwhile, China is the largest producer of solar panels worldwide. Based on data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), in 2021, China manufactured 75% of modules, 85% of cells, 97% of wafers, and 79% of polysilicon. According to data, China's share in all manufacturing stages of solar panels exceeds 80%.
