Newly formed United Renewable Energy Co (UREC, 聯合再生能源) plans to set up a team focusing on better-margin solar arrays and solar power plant construction projects.
The special team is also to help clients find equity investors, and deal with loan and tax matters, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
UREC, which combines three solar cell makers — Neo Solar Power Energy Corp (新日光能源), Gintech Energy Corp (昱晶能源) and Solartech Energy Corp (昇陽光電) — is to start formal operation on Oct. 1.
It aims to turn profitable in three years, company executives said.
“The new company will not rely on manufacturing and selling solar cells to make a profit, but will focus on selling solar systems,” UREC chairman Sam Hong (洪傳獻) told a news conference.
While the newly merged entity is still in the process of corporate restructuring and resource integration, UREC has secured solar power plant construction projects with 1 gigawatt installed capacity with customers in the US, the UK, Japan, Latin America and Dubai, Hong said.
In Taiwan, the company is in talks with customers to build 400 megawatt ground-mounted solar photovoltaic arrays in Changhua and Chiayi counties, Hong said.
The company plans to proceed on the projects worth NT$20 billion (US$649.7 million) in cooperation with a Japanese private equity fund once the deals have been finalized, he said.
UREC has also collaborated with a local life insurance company to build 100 megawatt solar arrays for a fish farm in Tainan, with the construction work set to begin next year, the company said.
So far, UREC has helped customers build solar plants with an aggregate capacity of 500 megawatts in Taiwan, Japan, the US and Europe, the company said.
To pursue profitability, UREC aims to expand its solar module capacities and improve the cost structure of solar cell manufacturing, Hong said.
“Our strategy is to concentrate on providing services to build solar power plants,” UREC chief executive officer Pan Wen-whe (潘文輝) said. “We also intend to build our own brand of solar modules. To save costs, we plan to outsource production of solar modules.”
With these efforts under way, UREC expects to break even by the end of next year and swing into the black by 2020, Hong said.
In the second quarter of the year, the three solar cell makers saw their combined losses fall 31 percent to NT$967 million from the first quarter, with overall revenue down 1.2 percent to NT$6.05 billion, company data showed.
The narrowing losses reflected early gains from consolidation and strategic transformation, Hong said.
Meanwhile, revenue fell less than expected in the face of China’s new energy policy, which took effect in June and significantly scaled back solar subsidiaries, he said.
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
Taiwan is open to joining a global liquefied natural gas (LNG) program if one is created, but on the condition that countries provide delivery even in a scenario where there is a conflict with China, an energy department official said yesterday. While Taiwan’s priority is to have enough LNG at home, the nation is open to exploring potential strategic reserves in other countries such as Japan or South Korea, Energy Administration Deputy Director-General Chen Chung-hsien (陳崇憲) said. While the LNG market does not have a global reserve for emergencies like that of oil, the concept has been raised a few times —
RSS