Shanghai Electric Group Co, China's biggest industrial equipment manufacturer, will double its production capacity for solar cells to 100 megawatts by the end of this year to meet the world's growing demand for green energy.

The group has begun to make solar cells for the world's largest solar power system after one of its subsidiaries won a bid to become the project's major supplier.

"We are also looking at other solar power system projects, and we hope we can get them," said Zhu Yuanhao, vice general manager of the group's environmental production division.

The upcoming project, located in Murcia, Spain, will be equipped with 60 megawatts of generating capacity and cost 2 billion yuan (US$250 million) to build.

It will be constructed in three phases and should be completed in 2008. The plant's solar generation system will cover 350,000 square meters of land.

Shanghai Topsolar Green Energy Co, in which Shanghai Electric holds a 61 percent stake, will supply more than 60 percent of the cells and participate in their installation. The other cells will come mainly from Tianwei Yingli New Energy Resources, based in central China.

Solar cells for the first 14-megawatt phase will be supplied mostly by Shanghai Topsolar.

The project attracted many bidders, but Suntech Power Holdings Co, China's largest solar cell maker, didn't take part.

Even so, Suntech plans to double both capacity and production output in 2006 with a new plant in Shanghai.

The company's annual production capacity for photovoltaic cells is expected to hit 300 megawatts this year while output will likely top 140 megawatts.

There are more than 10 solar-energy companies in China with a production capacity of more than 10 megawatts a year. More than 90 percent of their products are exported because of a lack of government subsidies in the domestic market for solar generation, which costs more than conventional energy.

Source:佚名