Rapid Development of Film Solar Cells     

LDK Solar Co., Ltd. (NYS: LDK), a manufacturer of polycrystalline solar wafer, has set up a film solar cell company in February 2008 through its subsidiary Liuxin Group, named Best Solar Co., Ltd. located in Suzhou Wuzhong Industry Park, Jiangsu province. Best Solar started infrastructure construction in March 2008.
   Using the most advanced technology and equipment, the film solar cell project in Best Solar will start production before the end of 2008. The project will be constructed in five phases. The capacity of film solar cells in the company will reach 1000 MW/a at the end of 2009.
   Film solar cells can further expand the application market of solar cells and spread the commercialization of solar cell technology along with the crystal silicon solar cell technology.
   The 16 000 t/a polycrystalline silicon project funded by LDK Solar with a total investment of RMB112.0 billion will be fully completed in 2009. The company hopes to reduce the cost of silicon chips, lower the price of photovoltaic components and cut down the photovoltaic power generation cost to below the wind power generation cost.
   Silicon chips produced in LDK Solar are mainly used in the "Roof Plan" of Europe. The capacity in the company already reached 580 MW/a in the first quarter this year.
   The company announced its expansion plan on May 12th. The capacity will be increased from 800 MW/a to 1100 MW/a in 2008 and the sales revenue will reach US$1.08-1.18 billion. The capacity will be increased from 1 600MW/a to 2 000MW/a in 2009. The company has set the target to be the biggest solar polycrystalline silicon chip producer in the world.
   By the end of the first quarter of 2008, LDK Solar has already signed six major silicon chip sales confirmations. The duration of purchase orders acquired is already up to 2018.
   Since the listing of Wuxi Suntech Power in the American stock market, the enthusiasm in making investments in the photovoltaic sector has always been high in China. The capacity has expanded rapidly. Ten Chinese enterprises have already been listed in the American stock market. By March 2008 there were 33 polycrystalline silicon projects under construction. If all these projects start production on schedule, the annual output of polycrystalline silicon in China will be more than 140 000 tons in the next few years.
   There is still a supply shortage of crystalline silicon in the world today. The demand for solar polycrystalline silicon in the world is 45 500 tons in 2008. According to the projection made by experts, however, the demand for polycrystalline silicone in the world will only be 80 000 tons in 2010.
   Meng Xiangan, Secretary-General of China Solar Energy Society, says that the pressure brought by raw material of polycrystalline silicon to enterprises is huge. "Raw materials almost account for 70% of the solar cell cost today." The rate of the product gross profit in some solar photovoltaic enterprises was sharply down from 16% to 5% in 2007.
   The supply shortage of silicon raw materials has pushed investors to film photovoltaic cells, another market of solar cells although they have few market applications in the photovoltaic sector today.
   Compared with crystal silicon cells, film cells operation can bypass silicon material and also have simple process. The most outstanding advantage is low cost and price. With a thickness of only several micrometers, they are photosensitive materials attached to glass, stainless steel, plastics and even some textiles. Film cells cost only RMB1.0 per watt whereas crystal silicon cells cost around RMB30.0 per watt.
   Some domestic crystal silicon cell producers have also tapped into the film solar sector. Wuxi Suntech Power has made an investment of US$60 million in Shanghai and started construction of a film cell production base. Production equipment is to be purchased from American Applied Materials Co., Ltd. Enterprises such as Tianwei Yingli and Qiangsheng Photoelectric also follow close behind. The investment of US$2.0 billion made by Best Solar without double holds the leading position in these investment projects.