International Solar PV Manufacturers in Malaysia

Current statistics (forget about the outdated data in Wikipedia) shows that Malaysia is currently the THIRD largest solar module manufacturing hub in the world.

Several solar panel manufacturers are thriving in the country, such as First Solar, located at Kedah; Q-cells, which has a base in Selangor; AUO and SunPower’s unit, located at Melaka; and MEMC, which operates from Sarawak.

UPDATE: Due to deteriorating market conditions in Europe, German's First Solar scaled back on production in Malaysia by idling 4 production lines at its plant in Kedah effective May 1, 2012. Not a good news for the industry.

AUO SunPower solar PV manufacturing plant in Melaka, Malaysia

SunPower and AU Optronics have begun the construction of a new solar photo voltaic production facility, which will generate 1,400 MWs. The facility will be completed by 2013 and is located at Melaka, which is the hub of solar energy in Malaysia. Located outside the capital of Kuala Lumpur, the installed capacity will be 28 solar production lines.

It began production in October 2011 and produced close to 5 MW, showing high conversion efficiency of 22.5%. This facility will be unique, in the sense that it will have a parking area that also hosts solar cells, helping in the production of 2.6MW of power generation annually. Additionally, rooftop installations will help in the production of another 10MW every year.

The latest investor is Panasonic Energy Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., a Japanese electronics giant that has grown significantly as a solar panel manufacturer. The company has announced that it will invest US $580 million to install a production facility for a solar cell plant at Kedah. It is expected to be operational by December of this year. The facility is slated to produce 300MW of PV. The plan includes production of Panasonics’ HIT photo voltaic modules and will look at solar wafers, modules and cell production, while employing close to 1,500 personnel.

Other companies beginning production are IRM Group subsidiary IRM Solar Sdn Bhd, following the Feed-In Approval it received from the Sustainable Energy Development Authority for the installation of 5.0MW capacity at Padang Besar. The FiT for IRM Solar will commence from 9 April 2013, and will be provided for the next 21 years.

Malaysia is very upbeat with the introduction of a new silicon-cell product, which includes a wafer production system that is expected to cut solar cell production by a massive US$0.40 per Watt/W. The company, called Twin Creeks Technologies, has already announced that aside of its Senatobia demo plant in Mississippi, where it is currently manufacturing 25MW; it wants to increase production to 100MW by opting for a joint venture in Malaysia to build production facilities. Twin Creeks has released a new product that slices polysilicon with an ion cannon to one-tenth of the thickness of today’s wafers.

Looking for sales in Asia, Malaysia has a promise of becoming the Grand Central of solar, second only to China for new and old companies.

Source: solarpvinvestor