Taiwan Photovoltaic Industry Heading for Growth in 2010

Taiwan photovoltaic industry revenue faces recession through upstream to downstream in 2009 due to the influence of global economic downturn. The total revenue shrinks to NTD 86.9 billion in 2009 with negative growth rate at 18% comparing with that in 2008 . The majority of revenue comes from midstream wafer-based and thin-film solar cells, which take approximately 70% revenue share of the industry by NTD 60.7 billion. Among all, wafer-based solar cell manufacturing brings a production value of NTD 59.3 billion.

Upstream silicon ingot & wafer and mid-to-down- stream module and system installation take only 26% and 2% share of the total revenue respectively. Upstream silicon ingot & wafer though represents a decline of revenue still reaches NTD 23 billion. In 2010, since the economy began recovery, photovoltaic industry is estimated to have an over 23% growth to reach NTD 110 billion.

The photovoltaic industry in Taiwan has been developing vigorously in recent years, apart from the existing suppliers, more companies are devoted or planning to invest in mid stream or down stream solar cell products , applications or related accessories industries. Therefore, the entire industry supply chain was established and the industry cluster was also strengthened. The annual capacity of the solar cell industry has made Taiwan one of the top five solar cell manufacturing country in the world. Of all the PV suppliers in Taiwan, there’s a trend of suppliers gathering in the science parks to exploit the synergy and collaboration of the vertically integrated clusters.

As for now, most PV companies in Taiwan gather in Hsin-Chu Science Park (HSP) and Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP). It can be seen from the figure that companies in these two science parks contribute more than 60% of the total production value in Taiwan. As to HSP, notable players include DelSolar Co., Ltd., E-Ton Solar, Gintech Energy Corporation, Motech Industrial Inc., Neo Solar Power Corp. (NSP) and more. The revenue of these companies amounted to near 40 billion NT dollars in 2009 and occupies more than 40% of the total production value of Taiwan, though presenting a 16% decrease from that in 2008.

Fig.1 Taiwan PV Production Value Breakdown

Courtesy: PIDA

Presently, most Taiwan PV manufacturers in the science parks concentrate in the middle stream field. But when more companies are hurrying to raise their capacities in this sector, many have noticed the importance of material and silicon wafer and shifted to the upper stream sector. For example, SR Solar Taiwan, which is mainly invested by SRI (US), planned to use sodium reduction process to manufactur polysilicon. Led by thin film makers NexPower Technology and Sunner Solar, and then followed by ITRI and Suntop Solar Energy, more PV compaies are responding to CSP's recruitment; therefore, in the future, CSP is looking to catch up with and even surpass the production values of HSP and STSP.

The 15th Annual Meeting of the International Optoelectronics Association is going to be held in Taiwan during June 9th to 11th by Photonics Industry & Technology Development Association (PIDA).

Participants of this year include SOA (Scottish Optoelectronics Association), EPIC (European Photonics Industry Consortium), Optech from Germany, SLN (Swisslaser Net), KAPID (Korean Association for Photonics Industry Development), PIDA (Photonics Industry & Technology Development Association), OIDA (Optoelectronics Industry Development Association), Ai Group (Australian Industry Group), IMS-NRC (Institute for Microstructural Sciences— National Research Council of Canada).

The consortium is going to focus on two topics: 1. production trends in optoelectronics / activity reports of each organization; 2. future growth areas in optoelectronics / technology roadmap activities. Representatives from each participant countries will share their activity reports and discuss the future activities with other members to exchange and to stimulate inventive ideas. The technology roadmap will identify the R&D efforts which will develop the technologies most likely to make the greatest contribution to the society. The roadmap will show the projected path of the technologies to market as seen by experts consulted from across the globe. The roadmap will be disseminated to governments, industry and academia to align their efforts in implementing the roadmap objectives.

Fig.2 The IOA Meeting hosted by KAPID in 2009


Courtesy: KAPID

For more information, please visit PIDA's website at
http ://www.pida.org.tw