25 August 2010 - Kaneka Corporation (headquarters: Osaka; President: Mr. Kimikazu Sugawara) has been building an expanded production capacity for thin-film PV cells at its wholly owned subsidiary, Kaneka Solartech Co., Ltd. (headquarters: Toyo'oka City, Hyogo Prefecture; president: Mr. Hiroshi Kubota), which uses hybrid technology to produce PV cells with the world's highest conversion efficiency of 12% among thin-film PV technologies.
The new facilities have now been completed and starting this month, will progressively be put into operation. Production capacity will thereby increase by 80 megawatts (MW), for an ultimate annual production total of 150 MW.
Various technologies have been incorporated into the new facilities. They include thin-film manufacturing devices, developed in-house, which make for extensive savings in equipment costs; proprietary thin-film manufacturing technology, which improves production efficiency and yields; and manufacturing process innovations based on lower material costs and larger substrate area. Through these facilities, which are intended to greatly reduce manufacturing costs, we will further build up our proprietary manufacturing technology and expertise.
Through operation of our expanded facilities, we will step up efforts to provide high quality and highly reliable products in fields where we can put the special features of our thin-film PV cells to work. Our goal is to further expand our solar energy business, garnering at least a 10% share of the domestic market by 2012.
For more information, visit www.kaneka.co.jp.
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