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German cell manufacturer Q-Cells is Number 1 cell producer worldwide
February, 2008: Sharp Corporation has been toppled from it’s Number 1 spot in cell production and is now in a head-to-head race with Suntech Power Corp.
With an annual production of 370 MW, the company from Thalheim, Germany, has secured its place at the top with a slight lead over competitors Sharp Corp. (Japan) and Suntech Power Co., Ltd. (China). Sharp has announced an annual production of 363 MW for 2007 and Suntech has outlined a figure of “363 to 365 MW” – but this figure is only preliminary as the final results will only become clear after the company publishes its Q4 2007 results on Feb. 20.
Q-Cells reported a production figure of 253 MW in 2006 (which put the company in second place behind Sharp), meaning the German company increased production by 46 percent in 2007. Suntech expanded its production even faster for a 127 percent growth compared to the 160 MW of product it manufactured in 2006 (which put it in fourth place). Both companies have Sharp’s production decline to thank for their jump to the top – in 2006 Sharp reported production of 434.7 MW of cells and so production in 2007 decreased 16 percent: a drop that is most probably due to the company’s failure in securing enough silicon feedstock.
The figures are sourced from PHOTON International as part of its annual worldwide PV production survey. The survey is not completed for 2007 as yet, and the final results will be published in the March issue of PHOTON International. However, at the moment it seems that the Japanese company Kyocera Corp. will be in fourth place with a 2007 production figure of 207 MW, while US manufacturer First Solar will probably secure fifth place with 200 MW of cell production in 2007.
The figures back up three important trends in the PV market: With Q-Cells and Suntech, two of the top three places are secured by pure PV players. The solar departments of large corporations – besides Sharp and Kyocera, this would include others such as Sanyo, Mitsubishi, BP Solar and Schott – have been left behind at least for now.
Moreover, Suntech’s position in the top three highlights a trend that Chinese companies are steadily establishing themselves in the international PV business. The company, based in Wuxi was only founded in 2001 – making it even younger than Q-Cells, which was founded in 1999.
First Solar – a manufacturer of cadmium telluride solar cells – is now in the Top 10, exhibiting how thin-film technology is increasing in importance. However, no other manufacturer in this sector has even come close to the US-producer’s figures. Crystalline solar cells are still by far the market-leading technology.
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