Sharp to Launch Production of Solar Cell Modules in the U.S.

Japan-based Sharp Corporation, the world's leading manufacturer of photovoltaic (PV) power generation products announced that Sharp Manufacturing Company of America (SMCA), its manufacturing base in Memphis, Tennessee, will start the production of solar cell modules in the spring of 2003.

In the worldwide solar power market, the demand is expected to grow continuously beyond 2003. In order to meet the rising demand, Sharp has drastically increased its annual production capacity of the Shinjo Plant, its production base in Nara Prefecture in Japan, from 94 MW to 148 MW in July 2002, and eventually, Sharp will have increased its total manufacturing capacity to 200 MW by the end of the fiscal 2002.

Sharp will start the production in the U.S. to boost the sales of PV power generation systems in the country, where demand for PV systems, which utilize reusable and clean solar energy, increased after the energy crisis stemming from the electricity shortage in California in 2000.

The annual production capacity of solar cell modules at the SMCA will be at 20 MW initially and will increase as demand grows.



Posted: 2002/12/10 08:23:04 AM
Japanese version