Mitsubishi Electric to Raise (Solar) Cell Capacity to 500 MW (per year) by 2012

http://www.solarbuzz.com/News/NewsASCO225.htm

Mitsubishi Electric will invest a total of some 7 billion yen to expand annual production capacity of photovoltaic cells, at its Nakatsugawa Works Iida Factory (Nagano Prefecture), and modules, at its Nakatsugawa Works Kyoto Factory (Kyoto Prefecture), in response to a sharp increase in demand for solar power generation systems.

This investment will expand Mitsubishi Electric’s annual PV production capacity from 150MW to 220MW in October 2008. Looking to the future, the company aims to establish a production system with an annual capacity of 500MW by fiscal 2013 (April 1, 2012-March 31, 2013).

Having started the residential PV systems business in 1996, Mitsubishi Electric then opened the Nakatsugawa Works PV facility in 1998, where production of cells and modules began. A lead-free solder module 2 production line, the first in Japan, was opened in January 2003, the same year as the opening of the Kyoto Factory. Total annual production capacity was increased to 35MW in January 2003, to 50MW in September 2003, to 90MW in June 2004, and then up to 135MW in April 2005. In September 2006, Mitsubishi Electric began production of residential PV inverters for the European market, and in August 2007, the company improved factory productivity, increasing its annual PV production capacity to 150MW.

<not much more>