Japanese electronics maker Sanyo Electric Co. said on Wednesday it would invest more than US$350 million in its solar cell business over five years, aiming to cash in on growing demand for renewable energy. Sanyo, the worlds fourth-largest maker of solar cells behind Sharp Corp., Germanys Q-Cells and Kyocera Corp., aims to more than triple sales from the business to 180 billion yen (US$1.6 billion) by the year to March 2011.

"Somehow we want to join the worlds top three," Satoshi Kitaoka, head of Sanyos solar unit, told a press conference in the western city of Osaka, where Sanyo is based. Solar energy is one of the few promising units for Sanyo, which lost over US$3 billion over the past two years as it was unable to keep up with rivals in the cutthroat consumer electronics market and suffered from earthquake damage to a chip plant in 2004.

Japans third-largest consumer electronics maker said it would invest 40 billion yen or more in its solar business by the financial year through March 2011, starting with an investment of 10 billion in 2007/08. Sanyo plans to increase production capacity of solar cells by about 60 percent to 260 megawatts in 2007/08 by bolstering output at its Osaka plant. It hopes to reach 600 megawatts by 2010/11, accounting for roughly 15 percent of the global market.

Demand to double

A typical Japanese family of four can meet its electricity needs for a year with a 3 kilowatt solar system. So 1 megawatt can power about 300 homes. Sanyo estimates that worldwide demand for solar power will more than double to 4 gigawatts by 2010, helped by government subsidies and increased focus on renewable energy sources with oil prices near record highs.

Solar is one of the fastest-growing sectors in energy but still provides less than 1 percent of the worlds power, partially because it is still costly to produce. Sanyo said it was working to boost the efficiency of its solar panels while at the same time producing thinner wafers to help cope with a global shortage of silicon, the main active component of solar panels.

The company said it would look at forming an alliance for the procurement of silicon but did not give further details. Sanyo also announced it would introduce a new solar cell using less expensive multi-crystal silicon wafers to expand its product line-up and customer base. The cells will be less efficient than those made with single-crystal wafers but cheaper to produce. The electronics maker will continue to use single-crystal wafers to produce high-end panels as well. Before the announcement, shares in Sanyo closed down 1.64 percent at 240 yen, while the Nikkei average ended down 0.03 percent.
(Por Yumi Horie, Planet Ark, 22/06/2006)