China’s loss-making manufacturers of solar panels believe they may have found a way out of their nightmare – by becoming one-stop renewable energy shops with their own solar farms. Many of the country’s panel makers are now looking to invest in solar farms to help them return to profitability. For manufacturers, generating projects mean a predictable source of demand for their panels and a more lucrative business than manufacturing panels. They offer an annual gross return of about 10%, depending on the proportion of debt financing and project location. JA Solar said in August it planned to develop 300 megawatt (MW) of generating projects in Hebei province, in what its Chief Executive, Jin Baofang, said was a major step “to increase the role project development plays in our overall revenue mix”. Shunfeng Photovoltaic, a small Chinese solar cell maker listed in Hong Kong, has said it will enter agreements to develop 1,079 MW of solar power projects and have 600 MW in operation or under construction by the end of this year. Like their overseas peers, Chinese panel makers may eventually spin off their power plants by listing them or selling them to funds and insurers to take profit and alleviate potential funding strains, analysts say.