Motech Industries, the largest maker of solar cells in Taiwan and the ninth in the world in 2005, plans to expand its annual production capacity to 1GWp (gigawatts-peak) to rank among the top-three global makers, said company CEO Simon Tsuo.
Motech currently has two factories, one of which had production equipment destroyed in a fire on November 23, 2005, Tsuo indicated. In line with its goals, Motech plans to expand its production capacity by building a third and fourth factory in the next four years, Tsuo pointed out.
The expansion of production, however, will be influenced by the global supply of polycrystalline silicon, the key material for making solar cells, said Tsuo. The global supply is currently at least 20% short of demand and the shortage will persist until 2008-2009, Tsuo noted. Motech has secured material supply for 120MWp (megawatts-peak) output this year but is not sure about the available supply in 2007, Tsuo said.
Considering its relationship with existing clients, Motech does not plan to extend its production to photovoltaic cell modules for the time being, Tsuo indicated. With a local market share of about 50% for installation of solar energy systems, Motech will start volume production of solar energy inverters later this year, Tsuo pointed out.
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Motech’s 2006 planned production capacity | ||
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Factory |
Current situation |
Planned capacity expansion |
|
First |
Restored 80% of the annual capacity of 85MWp before the fire incident |
Annual capacity is being expanded to 100MWp next quarter and further to the designed maximum of 120MWp in July |
|
Second |
First production line under installation, with the beginning of installation of the second line depending on polycrystalline silicon supply |
Operations to begin in August, gradually to reach a capacity of 80MWp at the end of this year |
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Aggregate |
|
Available capacity of 200MWp at the end of this year, and 40MWp can be added for a total of 240MWp if supply of polycrystalline silicon is sufficient |
Source: Motech, compiled by DigiTimes.com, March 2006
Article translated by Adam Hwang and edited by Eric Mah
