Sharp Invests $725 Million in 480 MW Thin-Film Solar Plant
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 03.28.08
Sharp, the biggest maker of solar panels in the world, has just invested 72 billion Yen (~$725 million) into a plant that will make thin film solar cells in Sakai, in the Osaka prefecture. Production of solar panels will start in March of 2010, with an initial annual capacity of 480 megawatts, bringing Sharp's total production to 1 gigawatt.
Sharp claims that by using large-size glass substrates developed in collaboration with Tokyo Electron Ltd they will "dramatically improve production efficiency" and be better able to respond to the extremely fast-growing demand for solar photovoltaic panels. This should help further lower the cost of solar energy. ::Sharp press release See also: ::Sharp Sees Solar Power Costs Halving By 2010, ::Ausra: Solar Power Around the Clock, Enough for 90% of U.S. Grid
Almost half of the world-wide production of solarcells goes to germany. We are happy to grab those from Sharp, too =)
http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,1133875,00.jpg
(shows the newly installed power in peak-megawatts in 2007)
Due increasing production capacity like this and many more examples similar to this, the cost of Solar is bound to come down.
We are experiencing, heavy demand for every type of Solar energy; Solar PV, Solar Thermal (CSP), Thin Film etc.
A new startup company has figured out a way to actually