Once Japananese PV makers dominated the world PV production. Until almost a decade ago. Sharp, Kyocera, Sanyo (now part of Panasonic) and Mitsubishi Electric led the world. When German and other European markets expanded quickly, a great number of companies in Europe and Asia, specifically China, joined the “potentially” profitable PV industry, rapidly ramped up their production and brought down the production cost, leaving the Japanese companies behind.
When Japanese government decided to put a brake on the lagging domestic PV manufactures and market by creating the Feed-in tariff (FIT) program, Japanese makers were like a Koi fish in a pond, began enjoying the benefit of the full access to the lucrative domestic market and they start seeing the improvement of their bottom line. Solar Frointier is no exception.
While many module companies such as SolarWorld and Sharp are losing money or going under major restructuring such as Suntech and LDK to survive in the industry where ample of modules sever price erosion caused by global oversupply. Recently the company has achieved followings:
- Made a first operating profit in the first quarter 2013, two quarters ahead of the plan
- Reduced the material costs by 25% by the first half of 2012 and it is improving
- Bumped up its production capacity utilization to 100% at its 900-MW Kunitomi plant from January
- Will resume production at its previously suspended 60-MW Miyazaki No. 2 PV plant from July
- Vertically expanding into the downstream solar value chain, as an EPC contractor, Project Developer and Independent Power Producer, becoming a turnkey solution provider – beyond a module only provider
- Created a joint investment company with Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) to fund 100-MW worth of large-scale PV projects (500 kW to 2 MW in size) in Japan.
It is reported that thin-film PV lost more ground globally to silicon PV in 2012, the thin-film share in Japan is in fact increasing. The data released by the Japan Photovoltaitc Energy Association (JPEA) shows that thin-film took 13% of the Japanese PV technology market share, up by 22% from 11% share in 2011. This year the share can be expected to get larger again. Nobuyuki Nagashima, Solar Frontier’s Manager for Communications
An interview with a Solar Frontier executive will reveal the company’s growing strategies along with its plan to catch up with First Solar, the world largest thin-film producer. Solar Frontier will be able to cut production costs of its solar modules by half in the next few years as it seeks to emerge as one of the world’s biggest solar module manufacturers.