Panasonic, Sharp to bet less on solar cell capacity at home - report

Oct 24, 2011 - Japanese Sharp Corp (TYO:6753) and Panasonic Corp (TYO:6752) plan to trim their solar cell capacity at home and bolster production abroad in a bid to save their solar businesses amid global economic woes and a strong yen, Nikkei said.

Sharp is to halt some production lines at its 710-MW Katsuragi factory in Nara prefecture as part of a plan to reduce domestic output by some 20% in six months. During that time, the company is to revamp the lines targeting enhanced productivity, the newspaper reported. Sharp intends to buy solar cells from manufacturers in Asia and other regions to offset lost production during the six-month halt.

At the same time, Panasonic is mulling over a plan to pour tens of billions of yens into the construction of solar cell plants in China and Malaysia in fiscal 2012/13 ending March. The investment could boost the company's solar cell capacity by over 100 MW.

According to the report, Panasonic has dropped a plan to turn a plasma panel plant in Japan into a solar cell factory, discouraged by the expensive yen.

Meanwhile, the debt crisis in Europe is expected to significantly affect the solar power market this year, not only on the continent but also globally. The situation has been unstable since the start of 2011 due to the decision of many European countries to cut their support for renewable energy.

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