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Unitech PCB, Taiflex Produce Solar Cells
June 27, 2008 |Estimated reading time: 1 minute
TAIPEI, Taiwan To fend off sales recession in the PCB market, Unitech Printed Circuit Board Corp. and Taiflex Scientific Co., Ltd., both Taiwanese makers, ventured into production of solar cells to drive up profit performance, according to China Economic News Service (CENS).
Unitech PCB primarily makes PCBs for mobile phones, and has started mass production of solar cells in at its plant in Letzer Industrial Park of Taiwan's northeastern country of Yilan. With maximum production capacity of 30 megaW/year, the solar cell production line is estimated to turn out between 8 and 10 megaW this year, generating sales of NT$600800 million ($19.8 million to 26.3 million U.S.). Chang Ping-chao, chairman of Unitech, said that the line has achieved a yield rate of 94% and its output attains a light-to-electric energy conversion yield of 16.5%, adding that his company is to challenge the corresponding figures of 97% and 17%, respectively, by the end of this year, reports CENS.
Unitech reportedly signed long-term contracts with a Korean company and Taiwan-based Tatung Group`s Green Energy Technology Inc. to secure stable supply and inventories of raw materials like polycrystalline or amorphous conductors. The firm also is planning to install a second production line in Q'03 2009 and a third one in 2011 to attain total solar cell production capacity of 500 megaW.
With TUV certification, Taiflex, a supplier of flexible copper clad laminated (FCCL) boards, has worked on solar cell modules and officially started delivery of the products early this year. At the moment, the company uses existing PCB production lines at its China plant to produce solar cell modules.
The production lines are expected to have maximum capacity of 200,000 sq.m. of solar cell modules this year and to 300,000 square meters between 2009 and 2010. However, CENS reports that these lines now turn out only 2 sq.m./month due mainly to insufficient supply of raw materials, and have generated aggregate revenue of NT$52 million ($1.7 million U.S.), or 5% of the firm's total, in the first five months of 2008. By the end of this year, the contribution may rise to between 8% and 10%, according to the firm.