Increased co-operation between Taiwan and Japan serves as benchmark for global PV industry

TAIWAN: During PVJapan 2012, Taiwan’s government led a delegation of representatives from Taiwan photovoltaics companies, encompassing the areas of silicon photovoltaic cells, CIGS, and photovoltaic modules, including Motech, Gintech Energy, Neo Solar Power, TSMC Solar, Ever Energy, Inventec Energy, and Eversol.  Many opportunities were created during the show between Taiwan and Japan – including orders in excess of 60MW worth $96 million in new business.

Taiwan has a stable supply chain network with products ranging from silicon products to solar modules and has emerged as one of the leading PV manufacturing centers in the Asia Pacific region. Taiwan’s photovoltaic industry holds three major advantages: affordable and high-quality products; a comprehensive industry chain; and a respect for intellectual property rights. With that, Taiwan and Japan are set to play complementary roles, where photovoltaic manufacturers in Taiwan deliver outstanding quality and cost-efficiency, while Japanese companies offer superior branding and sales channels. Industry cooperation between Taiwan and Japan, therefore, can bring forth a win-win scenario.

In Japan, Taiwan-based Motech Industries and Japan-based Itogumi Construction also signed a strategic cooperation agreement on large-scale photovoltaic power plants. In addition, Taiwan’s government also committed to support the agreement between Taiwan-based Eversol Corp. and Japan-based West Holdings, to collaborate on building a large-scale 50MW facility in Japan in 2013. Moreover, one of the delegation members received orders from Japan for 10MW in photovoltaic modules. 15MW will be sold to other countries by the cooperating partner in Japan. The cooperation between Taiwan and Japan serves as an important benchmark of cooperation for the global PV industry.

With the current business trend, Taiwan is expected to witness several business opportunities with government support and solar energy being considered as a strategic industry. With recognition of Taiwan’s growing importance to the global solar market, PV Taiwan is definitely the premier international PV exhibition and the central hub to source buyers from home and aboard. What brings more excitement to the show this year is PV Taiwan will be held in conjunction with the 23th PVSEC, one of the most important international conferences in the area of photovoltaic industry. The combination of these two industry events makes it one of the best opportunities of the year and provides a powerful professional platform to network and collaborate.

-- SEMI Taiwan