SANYO to more than double module production capacity

SANYO North America Corporation, SANYO Electric Company Ltd.’s regional headquarters for the North American market, announced October 14 SANYO’s plans to increase the production capacity of solar modules at its Mexico Monterrey Factory by nearly 2.5 times the current amount.

The increase in production will serve the rapidly rising demand for solar power in the North American market. The Mexican plant currently has an annual production capacity of 20 megawatts for solar module assembly of SANYO’s proprietary HIT solar panels¹. The planned increases in production capacity would add up to a total production capacity of 50MW, more than doubling the current capacity of the factory. Operations are expected to start from December, reaching full capacity within this fiscal year (FY).

SANYO continues to augment its facilities with the most advanced production equipment and is constructing new facilities for future growth in response to increasing market demand, moving forward to reach the goals set to more than double its annual production capacity from the current level of 260MW to at least 600MW by the close of fiscal year 2010. SANYO is currently accelerating efforts to increase production of HIT photovoltaic modules to correspond with the needs of the three major markets in the world: Japan, the United States, and Europe.

Previously, in addition to the October 14 announced production increase at the Mexico Monterrey plant, SANYO announced its plans to more than double its solar ingot and wafer production capacity, fundamental components of the HIT solar cell, by building a new plant in Salem, Ore. (SANYO Solar of Oregon LLC.). This new plant will be in addition to the existing plant in Carson, Calif. (SANYO Solar U.S.A.), bringing the total ingot and wafer production capacity in North America to approximately 100MW upon completion and full operation of the Oregon plant.

In addition to strengthening the solar business in North America, SANYO is also planning to strengthen its solar business globally.

¹ HIT stands for Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin-layer. HIT solar cells developed by SANYO are hybrid solar cells composed of single crystalline silicon wafers surrounded by ultra-thin amorphous silicon layers.