Contrel of Chi Mei Group to Deliver Solar-Cell Production Line
2008/11/19 | By Quincy LiangTaipei, Nov. 19, 2008 (CENS)--Trying to cope with a clearly stagnating thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panel market, Chi Mei Group has successfully diversified into the thin-film solar-cell production equipment line.
Contrel Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. (CMO, the second-largest TFT-LCD panel manufacturer in Taiwan), recently announced its scheduled delivery of the first set of thin-film solar-cell production line in May 2009. The move, according to industry sources, is expected to give Chi Mei Group a key role in the solar-cell business and maintain its growth momentum with a green product.
Ho Chao-yang, CMO president, pointed out that the TFT-LCD line is hurting badly so the company would slow investment in the 8.5th-generation (8.5G) business, adding that the overall panel line would steadily downtrend in the next 10 years; so Chi Mei would diversify by focusing on energy-saving, green businesses such as LED and thin-film solar-cell etc.
Chi Mei has been cultivating a group of local machinery makers to independently develop, manufacture TFT-LCD equipment to upgrade the self-content rate on the island.
The thin-film solar-cell sector is more viable for local optoelectronic equipment makers, industry sources said, because the production processes are similar to TFT-LCD panels. Contrel has successfully, after two years, developed a turnkey thin-film solar-cell production line with a guaranteed energy-transfer rate of 6%.
Lee Bin-huan, president of Contrel, claimed that his company aims to further upgrade the energy-transfer rate to 10%. Currently, he said, Contrel operates a trial production line that is the basis for production adjustment, advanced R&D.
Chi Mei Group also reinvested in Chi Mei Energy Corp. to design, make thin-film solar panels and offer technical services, which is to begin mass production in the second quarter of 2009.