Panasonic Corp. has released new details regarding its plan to establish a company in Malaysia that is designed to serve as Panasonic's new solar manufacturing base.
Initial details of the factory emerged last week, before the company issued an official announcement.
Panasonic Energy Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., to be set up in December, will operate a vertically integrated solar manufacturing facility producing wafers, cells and modules. Panasonic will invest 45 billion yen in the facility, which will start operation in December 2012 with an annual production capacity of 300 MW. The plant will employ approximately 1,500 workers.
Panasonic will focus on its HIT (Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin-layer) solar modules. The new factory, to be built in the Kulim Hi-Tech Park in Kedah, is expected to strengthen the HIT module's cost competitiveness, due to its vertically integrated production, the company adds.
Panasonic will sell its solar modules as an individual product as well as part of a system combined with storage batteries.