With the addition of 50MW incremental capacity, the company’s cell capacity is expected to reach 550MW by the early first quarter of 2011. This will be done without the purchase of any new cell lines by means of debottlenecking and the enhancement of manufacturing processes.
The company also expects to convert 160MW of its existing cell capacity to high efficiency cell capacity through the introduction of selective emitter technology by the early first quarter of 2011 to realize efficiency targets exceeding 18.5% and 17.0% for monocrystalline and multicrystalline cells, respectively.
The company has already started working on the projects which are currently under construction. Upon completion, these manufacturing facilities are expected to provide the company with the ability to add 500MW of cell capacity and 1.2gW of module capacity.
Peter Xie, president of Solarfun, said: “Our continued ramp-up in capacity is driven by increased visibility of demand from our key customers in the first half of 2011 and we want to be prepared to meet this additional demand.
“The introduction of high-efficiency cell technology is a culmination of increased focus and aggressive investment in R&D, leading to a significant gain in cell efficiencies which are critical to reducing our costs and maintaining our competitive position.”
