Solar cell and module maker Motech Industries Inc (茂迪) yesterday said it plans to invest NT$1.5 billion (US$53.89 million) to expand production, with NT$400 million earmarked for high-efficiency next-generation solar cell capacity expansion.
The firm’s board of directors has approved the capital expenditure, the largest in five years, amid strong demand for the company’s tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) cells, Motech Industries president Fred Yeh (葉正賢) said.
“As photovoltaic systems integrator companies become more educated about the benefits of TOPCon solar cells, we are seeing strong demand,” Yeh said. “Orders are backed up into the second quarter of 2022.”
Photo: Chan Shih-hung, Taipei Times
“The next generation of TOPCon solar cell technology can raise the conversion rate to more than 22 percent, meaning that costs can be lowered by 6 to 8 percent,” he said.
Motech is expanding capacity from 15 megawatts (MW) to 200MW to satisfy demand and expand sales, he said.
“The next generation of batteries is 14.6 percent more efficient than previous [generations] and will produce more power, even under cloudy conditions,” Yeh said.
From the rest of the money, NT$1 billion is to go toward building more solar cell systems, while NT$100 million is to be invested in aquavoltaics, which combine eel and shrimp farms with solar photovoltaic arrays to get the most out of limited space, he said.
The company is new to aquavoltaics, Yeh said.
There is 30MW of capacity under development, which should join the grid “within the next year,” he said.
The beginning of the end is in sight for a parts shortage crisis that has plagued the tech sector this year amid supply chain bottlenecks and logistics logjams, Yeh said.
“Revenue and costs for Motech will peak [this] quarter, but the worst of the parts crisis is over,” he said.
Yeh said that he expects strong demand for Motech Industries’ solar cells to continue well into the second and third quarter of next year.
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