Solar cell maker Neo Solar Power Corp (NSP, 新日光) yesterday said that it plans to focus on higher-margin monocrystalline products, especially passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) solar cells, and gradually exit the cutthroat polysilicon solar cell market after two years of losses.
“It is difficult to make a profit from polysilicon [solar cells] given poor average selling prices,” a company official said by telephone under the condition of anonymity.
Because of an oversupply, mainly from China, the prices of polysilicon solar products collapsed last year, the official said.
Polysilicon solar capacity accounts for more than half of Neo Solar Power’s overall solar cell capacity of 2.2 gigawatts, while monocrystalline solar cell production makes up about 40 percent, or 900 megawatts.
PERC solar cells enjoy a premium of at least US$0.05 per watt over conventional monocrystalline solar cells, allowing manufacturers to make a decent profit, market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said.
Neo Solar — which lost NT$2.71 billion (US$88 million) in the first three quarters of last year, after losing NT$1.46 billion in 2015 — has been struggling amid a supply glut and weak demand, while its expansion into the solar power plant business has not yielded significant results yet.
“We will carry out the new strategy this year,” the official said. “We hope to see improvements [in our bottom line] in the fourth quarter of this year,” the official said.
Asked about the latest ruling by the US Department of Commerce cutting tariffs on solar products made by Taiwanese companies, Neo Solar said it is not one of the companies affected by the ruling.
The company still has to pay an import duty of 19.5 percent.
However, local peers Sino-American Silicon Products Inc (中美晶) and Motech Industries Inc (茂迪) will only have to pay tariffs of 3.5 percent and 4.2 percent respectively.
In 2014, the US government announced anti-dumping duties of 11.45 percent to 27.55 percent on imports of solar cells made in Taiwan.
The latest ruling came after US authorities relaunched an anti-dumping investigation last year as some Taiwanese companies requested.
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