Green Energy Technology (GET), Sino-American Silicon Products (SAS) and Gigastorage, the three main Taiwan-based makers of solar-grade polycrystalline silicon wafers, are expected to see their business operations improve in the second half of 2013, mainly due to large PV demand in China, Japan and the US, according to industry sources.
The Japan government has upwardly adjusted its 2013 total installation capacity for PV systems to 6GWp and the China government has set a target total installation capacity of 10GWp for 2013, generating large demand for PV products in the second half of 2013, the sources indicated.
Among GET's clients, 60-70% are Taiwan-based, 20-30% China-based and 10% Japan- and South Korea-based, the sources noted. GET is currently utilizing 95% of its 1.8GWp production capacity and expects large growth in sales revenues from Japan in the second half of 2013, the sources indicated.
To meet its own new orders from Japan, China and Taiwan, Gigastorage will expand its annual production capacity from 300MWp at present to 600-700MWp by the end of 2013, the sources pointed out. Gigastorage ships five million wafers a month currently and expects shipments to exceed 10 million units after completion of the capacity expansion.
Prices for wafers with high energy conversion rates of 17.6-17.8% stand at US$0.23-0.25/W currently, and there is room for some hikes as the European Union requires a minimum price of EUR0.56 (US$0.74)/W for PV modules imported from China which translates into US$0.3/W for wafers, the sources pointed out.
