Solar Cells Info

by Nuying Huang, Taichung; Esther Lam
Source: DIGITIMES, 22 May 2008
http://www.digitimes.com/bits_chips/a20080521PD213.html

NexPower Technology, a thin-film solar cell company co-established by Unimicron Technology and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), today (May 21) hosted the opening ceremony for its plant in central Taiwan. Company executives expressed confidence that the company will start to earn profits from 2009 as present capacity has already been fully booked.

NexPower, so far, has customers from ten countries including China, Germany, Italy, Spain and the US. All of these customers have inked contracts with NexPower, meaning that capacity for the next two years is already completely booked. NexPower noted that it is aggressively seeking international certification, and expects products to be certified by two well-known standards bodies during August and September.

NexPower chairman Jia-Tsung Hung (transliterated from Chinese) indicated that the company currently houses a capacity of 12.5MWp and the amount will increase to 37.5MWp in October. Estimated output for 2008 is 13.5MWp. NexPower also started construction of a second plant on May 6 which is scheduled to complete by the end of the year, he detailed. Total capital expenditure (capex) for the two plants and equipment will be about NT$10 billion (US$32.9 million).

Hung added in saying that NexPower will start installing production lines for tandem junction solar cell production in February 2009, which will enhance the company’s power conversion efficiency from the present 7% to 9%. Capacity for 2009 is estimated at 125MWp with an output of 80MWp. The company aims to grow capacity to 225MWp in 2010 and add 200MWp of capacity per year thereafter, he added.

NexPower currently houses a capital size of NT$1.3 billion, with UMC accounting for 34% and Unimicron 10%. The company said it hopes to raise an additional NT$2-3 billion, but did not reveal a timetable for the fund raising.

Robert Tsao, honorary chairman of UMC, who attended the event, indicated that UMC has been extending its presence from foundries to all kinds of IC design and design services, indicating that the company is deep-rooted in Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. The investment in solar is motivated by environmental protection concerns, as well as growing energy costs. He stressed that UMC has ethical concerns for tapping the solar business.

John Hsuan, honorary vice chairman of UMC, echoed the sentiment, saying that renewable energy is of increasing importance as crude oil prices trend higher and higher. He added in saying that UMC does not rule out the possibility of entering further solar energy deployments in addition to amorphous silicon (a-Si) solar cells. Hung from NexPower, on the other hand, said the company has no plans for any other types of thin-film solar cell production, nor consolidation with downstream players yet. But he stressed that NexPower would not consider tapping into the crystallized solar cell business.

Hsuan noted that NexPower has support from the entire UMC group as it builds experience in a-Si solar cell deployment. Also the company has technological backup from Unipac Optoelectronics (Unipac merged with Acer Display Technology (ADT) to form AU Optronics (AUO)) prompting Hsuan to be confident NexPower will become the number one thin-film solar cell maker in future.