Solar wafer manufacturer Sino-American Silicon Products Inc (SAS, 中美矽晶) yesterday said it plans to build a 50-megawatt solar power plant in the Philippines, following the lead of Taiwanese peers.
Sino-American said it has signed an agreement with the Philippine Department of Energy to launch a 20-year feed-in tariff scheme. The deal is the first to be signed by the company following the launch of its solar plant subsidiary SAS Sunrise Inc in the Cayman Islands last month.
“The company is looking to invest in other solar power plant projects in the Middle East and Latin America with an eye to operating the plants as ‘yield companies,’” Sino-America said in the statement. “We believe these new projects would greatly boost the company’s competitiveness.”
The solar power plant to be built in Palo in the central Philippines, would be one of the biggest solar power plants in the country and could produce 71 million units of electricity per year, the company said in a statement.
The plant is scheduled to start operations early next year, with construction estimated to be completed within the next six months, the statement said.
Solar cell maker Neo Solar Power Corp (新日光), the nation’s largest by shipments, last month said that it planned to list a solar power plant operating venture on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at the end of this year at the earliest, in a bid to seek new growth amid volatility in the industry.
Neo Solar said it is close to wrapping up talks with a US solar power plant operator to invest US$50 million in the venture, which is to operate as a yield company, Hsinchu-based Neo Solar said.
Sino-American said in a separate statement that consolidated revenue grew 14.7 percent to a record-high NT$2.6 billion (US$83.47 million) last month, compared with NT$2.27 billion in May.
Revenue from its solar business surged 34.9 percent sequentially to NT$1.28 billion last month, the company said.
Sino-American attributed the strong growth to robust demand for high-efficiency solar wafers, solar cells and solar modules, which lifted its factory utilization rates in Taiwan and Germany to 100 percent.
To meet the rising demand, the company plans to launch new employee recruitment programs in both countries later this year.
Second-quarter revenue increased 4.9 percent to about NT$7.13 billion, from NT$6.8 billion in the first quarter.
Sino-American shares declined 1.73 percent to NT$39 in Taipei trading yesterday.
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