Photovoltaic cell production in Japan to reach 3142MW in 2011

[WorldofPhotovoltaics.com]

Production of photovoltaic cell module production in Japan is forecast to reach 3142MW by the beginning of 2011. These cells are used primarily for installing domestically installed solar panels on houses as well as new feed-in tariffs, both requirements are driving demand.

As a result of the increased demand for photovoltaic cell modules in Japan, Mitsubishi Electric has recently announced that solar cell production will be tripled up to 600 megawatts by March 2012. In addition, Showa Shell Solar is building a new plant which will enable the company to increase non-silicon based solar cells to 1 gigawatt per year by February 2011. Panasonic has also announced, post its acquisition of Sanyo, that its main focus will be on the solar business and the lithium-ion battery sector.

Japan's market for photovoltaic cell modules has attracted new entrants such as Konica-Minolta which intends to enter in 2013 and invest 20 million dollars into Konarka Technologies, a US manufacturer of organic thin-film solar cells. The requirement for low cost PV cells and more efficient materials for solar cells is driving investment in research and development. Industrial R&D is focusing on multi-layer film cells due to the advantages of high energy conversion efficiency and low product cost. Sharp Corp. and Mitsubishi Electric are producing energy-conversion efficiencies of 10% and 14.8% respectively. A key new technology is the production of transparent electrodes with finer surface texture to absorb different wavelengths of sunlight for increased output. Kyocera Corp. which is increasing its production of polycrystalline-silicon solar cells while developing thin-film solar cells, said that crystalline-silicon solar cells have the edge in terms of reliability and energy-conversion efficiency, but thin-film types will become popular when higher efficiency is achieved. With Kyocera's focus on products that are well balanced between cost and efficiency, it is likely to follow in the footsteps of Sharp and Mitsubishi.

Source: Companies and Markets