Q-cells To Invest RM5 Bln In Malaysia To Produce Solar Cells
Cyberjaya, June 2, 2008
Source: Bernama.com
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=336814
Germany’s Q-Cells AG, the world’s leading photo-voltaic company and largest manufacturer of solar cells, will invest RM5 billion in Malaysia to produce solar cells for the global market, its chief executive officer Anton Milner said Monday. The investment, he said, comprised three phases of development, starting with the setting up of a manufacturing complex on a 150-hectare site in Selangor Science Park II in Bukit Raja, Dengkil, near here. “We have three phases of development here. What we have foreseen up to now is an investment budget of RM5 billion and we hope to employ 800 to 900 people in the first phase,” he told reporters after a ground-breaking ceremony at the site.
Also present were Malaysia Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) deputy director-general Datuk Jalilah Baba, Selangor State Investment Centre chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Jabar Ahmad Kembali and Q-Cells senior vice- resident of production Malaysia, Bernhard Rack. Milner said for the second phase and third phases, Q-Cells was also targeting around 800 to 900 new employees. “We will need to expand quickly here because we have a lot of interest from our subsidiary companies,” he said.
The main markets for Q-Cells products are Europe, South Korea, Japan and the United States. Milner said many more markets were emerging in developing countries, “but we expect the main markets for this photovoltaic technology to be in sunny countries where energy prices are high”. Such countries include those in Southeast Asia, the Mediteranean and the Middle East, he said.
Under the first phase from 2008 to 2009, Q-Cells will invest in the plant which is expected to be completed early next year and begin production by the second quarter. “For many of our products, we will supply globally from here, mainly to emerging markets and Europe,” Milner said.
He said Malaysia was chosen as the site because the company has confidence in Malaysia’s infrastructure and support from the government, especially MIDA. The core business of Q-Cells, which is listed on TecDAX, the German stock market’s index for the largest technology companies, involves the development, manufacture and sale of moncrystalline and polycrystalline silicon solar cells.
The company has been looking at opportunities for growth and cost reduction and its strategy included rapid expansion of production capacity and focus on the development of photovoltaic technology. There are now five production lines at the company’s headquarters in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, located in the German state of Sachsen-Anhalt, in which solar celss are produced round the clock.
The new plant in Malaysia is expected to achieve a total production capacity of more than 300 peak megawatts (MWp). Q-Cells plans to produce more than 1.5 peak gigawatts (GWp) of solar cells in 2010, which will be four times its production output in 2007. With a workforce of about 2,000 employees and production output of 389.2 MWp in 2007 as well as target sales of nearly 860 million euros, the company has managed to leave behind its competitors.