KYOCERA Announces Upward Revision of Annual Solar Cell Production to 1GW by 2013; Construction of New Manufacturing Plant
Kyocera Corp. announced that it will increase its annual solar cell production targets to meet what it describes as the growing demand for solar energy products in the global market. New targets aim for an incremental increase to 1 GW per year by March 2013 – 2.5 times more than the current fiscal year 2010 production volume of 400MW.
As part of the new plan to increase annual cell production, Kyocera has recently completed construction of a new cell manufacturing plant in Yasu City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan which will operate in addition to the company’s existing Shiga Yohkaichi Plant.
The new plant becomes Kyocera’s second solar cell manufacturing plant along with the company’s Shiga Yohkaichi Plant. The new Yasu Plant employs an enhanced manufacturing line, which increases productivity by 20% compared with the Yohkaichi Plant. The main product to be manufactured at the Yasu Plant is the company’s newly enhanced cell with an average energy conversion efficiency of 16.9%. These cells are used in the company’s 215W solar module – said to be one of solar energy industry’s top power output levels – which is slated for sales to the global market.
Kyocera has established local production and supply networks for solar modules in North America, Europe, Japan and China – the world’s four largest solar energy markets. In addition to the solar cell production increase, the company will continue to enhance its module assembly capability.
"Kyocera will continue to contribute to solving increasing environmental issues by providing solar panels with high quality and high reliability for the creation of clean energy," stated Tetsuo Kuba, President of Kyocera.
