Jinko Solar, one of the biggest players in the global solar energy market, has secured RMB5bn in funding from China Minsheng Banking Corp (CMBC).

The finance, equivalent to about US$800mn, will be drawn down strategically over five years and will help Jinko develop downstream solar projects and manufacturing capabilities. It will also establish a relationship with CMBC that will transcend project finance, into the realms of asset finance, supply chain finance, bridge loans and standard trade finance.

Jinko has, for some time, been at the forefront of China’s booming solar industry, which has been dominant in the photovoltaic market in recent years. It has two factories in east China, with offshore offices and warehouses in the US and Europe. As of 2014, it had brought some 500MW of solar projects onto the electricity grid, and also sells power to the Chinese network.

The formalisation of ties with one of China’s largest commercial banks signals its ambitions to continue to expand in this market and according to the company’s chairman Xiande Li, “demonstrates the confidence we both have in the future development of the global PV industry”.

The industry has grown from around 5GW in 2005 to almost 140GW in 2013. While Western European economies such as Germany have been pioneering in the technology’s deployment, China has emerged as the dominant force in manufacturing and rollout.

Chinese companies have found themselves in a number of legal wrangles with trade bodies over perceived dumping of solar panels and other technologies on the European and US market.

In 2012, the EU became embroiled in a very public dispute with China over dumping, with China issuing an embargo on French wines in retaliation to an EU ban on Chinese solar panels. The dispute was subsequently settled, but China’s ability to manufacture low-cost solar equipment has left a bitter taste in the more mature, high-cost markets in the west.