Mitsubishi Electric said today that the company is planning to construct a new photovoltaic cell production facility, the PV Cell Plant #2, at its Nakatsugawa Works Iida Factory in Nagano Prefecture. The company will expand annual production capacity of PV cells in response to a sharp increase in demand for solar power generation systems.

Mitsubishi Electric also intends to accelerate its capital investment plan by one year, and invest a total of 50 billion yen to quadruple its annual PV production capacity from 150 megawatts (present) to 600 megawatts by fiscal 2012 (April 1, 2011-March 31, 2012). The company’s previous plan announced March 19, 2008 was to increase its capacity to 500 megawatts by fiscal 2013.

Having entered the residential PV systems business in 1996, Mitsubishi Electric opened its PV plant at Nakatsugawa Works Iida Factory in 1998, where production of cells and modules began. A lead-free solder module2 production line, the first in Japan, was opened in January 2003, the same year as the opening of the Kyoto Factory. Total annual production capacity was increased to 35MW in January 2003, to 50MW in September 2003, to 90MW in June 2004, and then up to 135MW in April 2005. In September 2006, Mitsubishi Electric began production of residential PV inverters for the European market, and in August 2007, the company improved factory productivity, increasing its annual PV production capacity to 150MW. Around the same time, the Iida Factory was assigned to specialize in production of PV cells, while the Kyoto Factory made modules. The company is getting ready to increase its annual production capacity to 220MW in October 2008.

Mitsubishi Electric also announced today the shipment of four small-size photovoltaic modules for overseas markets (35 watt, 40 watt, 46 watt and 52 watt), suitable for use in stand-alone solar power generation systems in areas of the world where the local electrification infrastructure is insufficient or non-existent. Shipment will begin on October 1, 2008.