Sharp invests $72M in Japan thin-film solar cell plant

With annual production capacity on a 1 gigawatt scale, it is possible that Applied Materials may be the supplier of the equipment, although the companies would not confirm this.

By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor -- Electronic News, 3/28/2008

Sharp Corp has made a total capital investment of approximately $724 million (72 billion yen) to build a thin-film solar cell plant in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, that is capable of annual production up to 1 gigawatt (GW) per year.

Production will begin by March 2010 with a planned 480 megawatt (MW) initial production capacity for solar cells. Combined with the 160 MW capacity of Sharp’s Katsuragi plant in Nara Prefecture, this will expand the company’s global production capacity for thin-film solar cells to 1 GW in April 2010.

Interestingly, on March 4, semiconductor and solar cell equipment manufacturer Applied Materials Inc made a filing with the SEC that stated the company has entered into sales agreements with a privately held corporation based outside the US, under which Applied will supply equipment and installation/warranty services for multiple solar factories to be constructed by the buyer.

According to the filing, “the factories, which will feature Applied SunFab thin-film tandem junction production equipment, collectively are expected to produce an annual output of solar photovoltaic modules capable of generating electricity on a gigawatt scale.” The filing did not identify the buyer but said that the aggregate purchase price for the equipment and related services to be provided by Applied is approximately $1.9 billion.

Although Applied is not disclosing if Sharp is its customer referred to in the filing and Sharp could not be reached by Electronic News for comment, there are not many equipment suppliers in the world that have a full line of turn-key solar cell manufacturing equipment.

Market researchers at Solarbuzz have observed that the photovoltaic (PV) industry generated $17.2 billion in global revenues last year, with Germany's PV market reportedly reaching 1,328 MW in 2007 and now accounting for 47% of the world market.

According to Solarbuzz, Spain's share soared by more than 480% to 640 MW, while the US increased by 57% to 220MW. The company also reports that the US has become the world's fourth largest PV market behind Japan, once the world leader, which declined 23% to 230 MW in 2007. Japanese producers continue to lose ground, only accounting for 26% of global production, while Chinese manufacturers raised their share from 20% in 2006 to 35% in 2007, Solarbuzz data shows. World solar cell production reached a consolidated figure of 3,436 MW in 2007, up from 2,204 MW in 2006, the market research company reports.

The solar energy consultancy said that despite total polysilicon production rising 30% in 2007, it remained the most capacity constrained part of the PV chain. Solarbuzz also noted that 21 new entrants started manufacturing polysilicon during the year. 

Meanwhile, thin-film production is reported to have more than doubled from 181 MW in 2006 to 400 MW in 2007, accounting for 12% of total PV production

In Sharp’s new manufacturing facility in Sakai, large-size glass substrates will be used, which were jointly developed with Tokyo Electron Ltd and which are expected to improve production efficiency and more quickly meet market demand. The glass substrate size measures 1,000 mm by 1,400 mm, which is approximately 2.7 times larger than the area of previous substrates.