Mitsubishi Electric Plans to Roll Monocrystalline Si Solar Cells

Mar 2, 2010 18:08 Tetsuo Nozawa, Nikkei Electronics

Mitsubishi Electric Corp announced March 1, 2010, that it will start production of monocrystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells within 2010.

At first, the annual production capacity will be 50MW. With monocrystalline silicon PV cells, which have a relatively high conversion efficiency, Mitsubishi Electric plans to respond to the needs of residences in urban areas, which have a limited space for installing solar battery panels.

Thus far, as for PV cells, Mitsubishi Electric has produced and sold only polycrystalline silicon PV cells. And the company considers it is possible to apply the know-how accumulated through the development of polycrystalline silicon PV cells.

"We have been engaged in the research and development of monocrystalline silicon PV cells for some time," Mitsubishi Electric said. "We do not think there is a clear difference between the technologies for monocrystalline silicon PV cells and those for polycrystalline silicon PV cells."

The expected conversion efficiency of the monocrystalline silicon PV cell is 17% at first, but the company plans to enhance it to 18 to 20% as soon as possible to compete with its rivals.

Because of the establishment of new production lines for monocrystalline silicon PV cells, the annual production scale of Mitsubishi Electric's PV cells will increase from 220MW in fiscal 2009 to 270MW in fiscal 2010.

"Our photovoltaic system business has grown by more than three times in fiscal 2009 on a year-over-year basis," the company said. "Our plants have been in full production around the clock since September 2009."

In consideration of that, Mitsubishi Electric plans to increase the monthly production scale of its residential power conditioners from 4,000 units to 6,000 units in fiscal 2010.

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