The explosion of photovoltaics production across the globe completely reshuffled the top companies in Nomura Securities' annual ranking of the leading companies, knocking long established Japanese players out of the top spots and putting four Asian suppliers in the Top 10. Japan's leading solar companies outline their strategies for this changing market in this report from SST partner Nikkei Microdevices. By Dr. Paula Doe, Contributing Editor, Solid-State Technology.

Fast growing Q-Cells AG became the world's largest solar cell maker in 2007, producing nearly 400 megawatts (MW) worth of product. Longtime solar industry leader Sharp found itself in second place as production slipped to roughly 370 MW, which the company blamed on a constrained supply of silicon. China's Suntech was close behind the leaders with more than 300 MW output, pushing Kyocera and its 200 MW to a distant third.

Four new companies jumped into the top ranks. CdTe-cell maker First Solar debuted at fifth place, the only US-based and only thin-film supplier on the list. Asian players Motech Industries (Taiwan), Yingli Green Energy (China), and JA Solar Holdings (China/Australia) rounded out the rankings, pushing aside some long-established players like Mitsubishi Electric, Schott AG, and BP Solar (see Figure 1, below).

Nomura notes that Japan's overall share of the solar cell market, at 50% a few years ago, is now down to about 20% and could well slip to 15% in the next few years as the rest of the world ramps up solar-cell production.

The major Japanese suppliers are aiming for major growth of their own in the next two years, with big expansions in capacity — on the gigawatt scale at Sharp and Showa Shell Solar KK — and on new technologies they say will significantly improve efficiency. "The next two years will determine the winners," AIST Research Center for Photovoltaics director Michio Kondo told Nikkei Microdevices. "Later entrants won't be able to catch up to those who put an all out effort now into technology and scale and speed. A year from now will be too late."

Sharp's comeback strategy is a major ramp of production capacity in both crystalline and thin-film cells, and an expansion across the entire solar value chain, to assure capturing the highest value-added parts of the business and the high value of integrating the whole system, reports Tetsuro Muramatsu, GM of the company's solar systems group. He says Sharp plans 1 gigawatt (GW) of capacity for crystalline cells and another 1 GW of capacity of thin-film cells by 2010, counting on the economies-of-scale from the high-volume production to reduce costs enough to bring solar electricity down to close to the target $0.21/kWh.

Sharp figures the solar cells or modules themselves account for only 25% (for x-Si) to 40% (thin-film) of the added value of the finished total system, with materials as much as 20% (x-Si), and systems and engineering another 35%-40%. Accordingly, the firm has in recent months started its expansion across the value chain by forming a company to develop solar production equipment with Tokyo Electron, by signing on to solar power production deals with utilities in Japan and Italy, and by investing in developing large-capacity, low-cost storage batteries for solar systems through Japanese Li-ion venture ELIIY Power. The company eyes bringing solar systems to regions of the world with no electrical grid with government supported lease financing.

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Source:
Dr. Paula Doe, Contributing Editor, Solid-State Technology
RenewableEnergyWorld.com 2008