Showa Shell to quadruple solar cell capacity with $128 million Japanese plant
by Shigeru Sato and Megumi Yamanaka, Bloomberg News
Tokyo, August 15, 2007
Source: International Herald Tribune
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/15/business/sxsolar.php
Showa Shell Sekiyu, the Japanese unit of Royal Dutch Shell, will build a plant to make solar-powered cells in Japan, quadrupling its capacity. The company plans to construct its second factory in Japan’s southwestern prefecture of Miyazaki, at a cost of ¥15 billion, or $128 million, to produce solar-powered cells that can collectively generate 60 megawatts of electricity annually, Showa Shell, which is based in Tokyo, said Wednesday. The new plant would be adjacent to the company’s existing 20 megawatt cell plant.
The oil refiner wants to tap growing global demand for solar power cells after worldwide cell sales surged 41 percent last year. Showa Shell and domestic rivals are accelerating investment in renewable energy projects as part of efforts to diversify and to compensate for declining demand for oil products in Japan.
“Through our petroleum retailing channel, we plan to aggressively increase sales of the cells to the domestic market” in addition to the international market, Showa Shell said in the statement. The new factory in Miyazaki is slated to begin commercial operations in the first half of 2009.
Global solar cell sales rose 41 percent to 2,500 megawatts in 2006, led by California and Germany, which increased incentives for rooftop installations on homes and businesses, according to an industry group, Clean Edge. The group forecast a quadrupling of the market to $69.3 billion by 2016.
Japan is accelerating efforts to use cleaner-burning fuel like natural gas as the country, a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, aims to cut emissions of greenhouse gases. The government has projected domestic oil product demand to decline 1.8 percent annually to March 2012 because of energy-saving measures and the shift to alternative fuels.