Panasonic To Increase Solar Module Production Capacity To 1 GW

Encouraged by the rapidly developing solar power market in Japan, Panasonic is planning to significantly increase its solar photovoltaic modules production capacity.

Panasonic has announced that it plans to increase the production capacity of its HIT (Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin-layer technology) modules to 1 GW over the next few years. To achieve this target, the company plans to increase production capacity within Japan as well as its facilities in Malaysia.

According to reports, production capacity at facilities located in Shimane and Shiga will be increased by a total of 150 MW every year. No information on capacity expansion planned for Malaysian facilities has been shared yet.

Panasonic sees huge domestic demand coming from the commercial as well as residential segments. While the Japanese government has come out in support of nuclear power for its medium to long-term energy policy, the company remains confident about some of the government programmes targeting green homes and energy storage.

Sanyo, a fully-owned subsidiary of Panasonic has significant experience in the residential solar power market. In 1992, Sanyo became the first manufacturer in Japan to equip residential buildings with photovoltaic systems that generate energy to be fed into the power grid.

Japan remains a highly attractive solar power market with some of the leading solar power companies in the world looking to develop a stronghold in the Land of the Rising Sun. SPI Solar, Trina Solar, First Solar, GE Energy Financial Services, and Suntech are some of the companies that have already announced investments in the Japanese solar power market.

The Japan Photovoltaic Energy Association (JPEA) earlier this year announced that the country could significantly increase the targeted installed solar power capacity by 2030. Japan has the potential to increase installed solar power capacity to 100 GW by 2030 which would meet 11.2% of the country’s electricity demand, JPEA stated.