Best Solar

About Best Solar

Best Solar Hi-Tech Co., Ltd. operated as a manufacturer of amorphous/microcrystalline silicon thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules, targeting the market for cost-effective, grid-connected solar power plants. The company was founded in February 2008 by the prominent Chinese entrepreneur Xiaofeng Peng.

The founder's background is central to the company's story. Xiaofeng Peng, born in 1975, previously established Suzhou Liuxin in 1997, building it into a major manufacturer of personal protective equipment. Recognizing a gap in the solar supply chain, he founded LDK Solar in July 2005 in Xinyu, Jiangxi province. LDK experienced meteoric growth, becoming the world's largest producer of solar wafers and making Peng a billionaire by 2007. At the peak of this success, Peng established Best Solar as a privately held venture, separate from the publicly-listed LDK Solar, to focus specifically on the emerging thin-film PV module sector.

Best Solar's business model was centered on large-scale manufacturing to drive down costs. The firm initiated operations with two significant sites: one in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, and a second in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, with groundbreaking for both occurring in 2008. The company aimed for an ambitious annual production capacity exceeding 1GW, backed by a substantial planned investment and a major equipment supply agreement with Applied Materials for its SunFab production lines. This positioned Best Solar to cater to developers of utility-scale solar projects seeking to lower the cost of electricity generation and maximize investment returns.

However, the company's operational history is tied to the dramatic boom and bust of the solar industry in the late 2000s and early 2010s. While it launched with significant investment and a clear strategic vision, its parent/sister company, LDK Solar, faced immense financial pressure due to industry-wide oversupply and collapsing prices, ultimately filing for bankruptcy between 2014 and 2015. Best Solar Hi-Tech Co., Ltd. appears to have ceased operations during this tumultuous period, as references to the company disappear from public records and industry reports after 2012.