Sanyo Electric Company has announced plans to set up a new solar cell production plant in Japan, in order to meet the rising global demand for green alternatives to energy consumption.
Sanyo are expected to invest more than 10 billion yen into the new plant, which is aimed to be built in Kaizuka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan.
The plant which is planned to be operational by the end of 2010 is said to have a higher power generation capacity than their other existing plants.
In efforts to boost its annual solar cell production, Sanyo are also increasing existing production at a plant in Unnan, Shimane Prefecture.
Sanyo commented in a statement that they plan to increase their production capacity from the current 340,000 kilowatts to 680,000 kilowatts in fiscal 2010 ending March 2011.
Sanyo in recent times also formed a joint venture with Nippon Oil Corp. to commercially produce thin-film solar cells, which apparently require relatively low production costs.
Panasonic Corp. which recently agreed to make Sanyo a subsidiary, have also shown interest in the category and have aims to expand the Sanyo solar cell business further.
It seems that a lot of the Japanese companies are showing strong support for solar energy and environmentally friendly alternatives. As Current.com.au reported previously, LG Electronics has also been an avid supporter of solar power; evidently consumer electronics companies have seen the benefits of this somewhat underused power source.
Especially overseas in Japan, it has now become a highly sought after category and a large proportion of manufacturers are trying to claim their piece of market share.