Inventec solar energy to expand PV cell capacity to 1.35GW

Inventec Corporation announced to merger its two solar PV subsidiaries, Inventec Solar Energy and Inventec Energy, which are respectively PV cell manufacturer and PV module vendor. Inventec Solar Energy will purchase 48.47% shares from Invence Energy with NT$483 million capital. At the same time, Inventec Solar Energy launched a PV cell capacity expansion plan to increase from 950MW to 1,050MW by first quarter of 2016 and to 1,350MW by third quarter.

Inventec Corporation majorly provides OEM services for laptops and smartphones. Its solar PV business is separated into Inventec Solar Energy, currently has 950MW of cell capacity, and Inventec Energy, currently has 2-300MW of module production. To increase the two companies’ profitability, Inventec’s board of directors decided to merger them and will enhance their production capacity through the expansion.

Harry Hsieh, President of Inventec Group, said, “During the past five years, Inventec Solar Energy’s revenue has improved gradually to approximately NT$8 billion in the full year 2015, representing a 70% annual increase.” The revenue after merger is expected to reach NT$9 billion, and the net revenue after tax is expected to be NT$200 million.

By respectively end of first and third quarter of 2016, Inventec Solar Energy projects to expand its cell capacity to 1,050MW and 1,350MW. The capital expenditure for 2016 is projected to be approximately NT$1.5~2 billion, while the revenue would reach NT$10~12 billion, which would be 22~33% higher than 2015.

“We expect a more distributed global market demand in the future,” noted Hsieh. “The total demand to solar products will also increase in 2016.” Inventec Solar Energy had expansion plans in 2014 and 2015. The company focuses on manufacturing standard multi-si PV cells for shipping to first-tier Chinese manufacturers such as Trina Solar. Inventec Solar Energy has a lab for N-type cells R&D.

Cumulative PV cell capacity of First-tier Taiwan manufacturers to surpass 10GW

Taiwan’s first-tier PV cell manufacturers are planning to expand or maintain their production capacity in 2016, finds EnergyTrend. In 2016, six Taiwan PV cell manufacturers’ production capacity will exceed 1GW, and the cumulative capacity of the top six makers will surpass 10GW.