Sharp Sets Up Additional Solar Cell Production; Starts PolySi Manufacturing

[jpak]

Sharp Sets Up Additional Solar Cell Production Line; Starts Polysilicon Manufacturing

http://www.solarbuzz.com/News/NewsASMA80.htm

Sharp Corporation will increase annual production capacity for solar cells at its Katsuragi Plant in Nara Prefecture by 110 Megawatts (MW) from March 2007 to meet burgeoning demand in Japan and abroad. As a result, solar cell production capacity at the Katsuragi Plant will reach 710 MW per year, the world’s highest.

With the call for new forms of energy growing in line with concerns over global environmental issues, major European countries like Italy, Spain, and France have set up electricity purchasing systems modeled after an already successful system in Germany. Consequently, the demand for solar cells is greatly expanding, mainly for industrial and electric power use.

Sharp will continue to develop highly efficient solar cells and improve productivity while securing a stable procurement of silicon raw material for solar cells. Sharp will keep expanding its solar energy business, which holds tremendous potential as a source of clean energy.

In January 2007, to procure the raw materials needed to meet an expanding demand for solar cells in the global market, Sharp Corporation is opening the Toyama site (in Toyama Prefecture, Japan) for the Solar Systems Group and is starting to produce silicon for solar cells. The facility has an annual production capacity of 1,000 tonnes and required an investment of 5 billion Yen ($42 Million).

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