China-based battery maker CATL and the Guangdong Provincial Government have signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement, under which CATL will invest in the construction of a lithium battery production base in Zhaoqing, Guangdong.

The first phase is planned to build a designed production capacity of 25GWh and an investment of 12 billion yuan (US$1.9 billion). CATL plans to strive for 150GWh of lithium battery production capacity and related supporting industries in Guangdong by the end of 2030, and drive the formation of a new energy industry cluster.

CATL will invest a similar amount to upgrade a plant in Yibin, Sichuan Province, and expand a joint venture factory in Ningde, Fujian Province with automaker China FAW Group.

The latest announced investments come on top of plans CATL unveiled last year to increase capacity at a cost of up to 65 billion yuan (US$10 billion). In January, Shengang Securities projected that CATL’s battery capacity would triple to 336 gigawatt hours in 2023 up from 109 gigawatt hours in 2020. The new announcements will add to this total.