Sharp will add 200MW of capacity at its factory in Sakai by March 2011, lifting its total to 1.07GW, according to Tetsuo Onishi, the head of its renewables division.
The new lines will be capable of producing modules with an efficiency of 17%, underscoring Sharp’s strategy to produce higher cost, higher quality PV products than most of its Asian competitors.
Until recent years Sharp was the world’s largest PV manufacturer, but it placed third in 2009 behind US-based First Solar and China’s Suntech – and is likely to see its ranking slide again in 2010.
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