Showa Shell to expand solar cell business

To compensate for sagging gasoline sales, Japans Showa Shell Sekiyu KK has decided to accelerate its solar cell expansion project. The firm announced that it would spend more than ¥100 billion (US$955.9 million) to boost solar cell production capacity at a new factory to be built in Miyazaki Prefecture to 1,000 megawatts (MW) a year in 2011. This will rival Sharp Corp.s Katsuragi Factory in Nara Prefecture, which is currently among the worlds biggest solar cell plant with an annual capacity of 710MW. The Showa Shell Group is in a position to benefit from its proprietary technology developed in 1993 called CIS (Copper Indium Selenium), in which a thin-film compound of copper, indium and selenium are coated on a glass substrate, eliminating the need to use expensive silicon. Showa Shell played a global pioneering role in the commercial production of its CIS-based solar cell with its first plant in Miyazaki Perfecture in July last year, with an annual capacity of 20 MW. A second plant currently under construction is expected to start production in 2009 with an annual capacity of 60 MW. The company also said it would enter into a business tie-up with Ulvac Inc., a major maker of solar cell manufacturing equipment, to upgrade mass-production efficiency. Show Shell has gained the support of The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, whichis considering subsidies and tax breaks for households that go solar. (July 5/7, 2008)

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