The new assembly line, to be installed by late 2009 at one of Sanyo’s two solar-cell production facilities in western Japan, will boost the company’s total annual solar-cell output 26% to 430 megawatts (MW).

Sanyo says the expansion comes “in anticipation of an active demand for photovoltaic systems worldwide stimulated by economic packages under ‘Green New Deals’”.

First developed by Sanyo in the early 1990s, HIT solar cells are a hybrid technology, utilising a layer of monocrystalline silicon and thin-film amorphous silicon. The combination allows the cells to regularly achieve conversion efficiencies higher than 22%.

In December 2008, Panasonic announced it would spend up to ¥800bn to acquire Sanyo in an attempt to entrench itself as a major player in the rapidly evolving world of clean technologies such as solar cells and rechargeable batteries.

Panasonic has been mired in discussions with anti-trust authorities over the takeover, but recently said that due to progress that has been made it is considering launching a tender offer as early as July.

US regulators have expressed concern about the fact that a combined Panasonic-Sanyo would control more than 90% of the market share for nickel-metal hydride rechargeable batteries for use in electric cars, according to Japan’s Kyodo news agency.

In recent months, however, it has become clear that lithium-ion batteries will likely eclipse nickel-metal hydrides in the automotive industry due to their higher power density, assuaging concerns.