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PCB Maker Enters Solar Cell Production
August 13, 2007 |Estimated reading time: 1 minute
TAIPEI, Taiwan Unitech Printed Circuit Board Corp. (UPCB) began construction of its first solar cell factory. The facility occupies 576,000 sq.ft. of land in Yilan County, Taiwan, and is expected to ramp to pilot production in May 2008. Solar cell manufacturing shares many common processes with PCB production, reports China Economic News Service (CENS), and UPCB hopes to bolster revenues by about $3 billion (Taiwan $90 million U.S.) yearly with the first production line in its solar cell unit.
The factory will undergo three phases of implementation, with $30 million U.S. initial investment from UPCB. In the first stage, a solar-cell production from Germany-based centrotherm will be installed, targeting 30-kW of cells output yearly. UPCB plans to use centrotherm production equipment for the second and third production lines, eventually bringing output to an estimated 300 megawatts by the year following final installations.
Polysilicon materials shortages are more mild than anticipated, said UPCB, and CENS reports that material supply could exceed demand by 2008. UPCB has yet to name a solitary materials supplier, and chairman P.J. Chang notes that the company is sourcing several options.
UPCB concurrently will expand core PCB manufacturing operations through its wholly owned subsidiary Shanghai Unitech Electronics Co., according to CENS. The subsidiary is installing additional production equipment to expand output at its second plant in Shanghai, China.