Oct

29

Singapore posed to be the world largest solar manufacturing hub

Filed Under Related Industry, Video Gallery 

Last Friday, Singapore got its biggest ever boost in solar Industry. Renewable Energy Corp (REC), a leading Norwegian solar energy company, announced that it will build a massive $6.3 billion solar plant in Singapore (Ref). This is going to be largest solar manufacturing plant in the world. Singapore was chosen from 200 destinations due to the following factors: (1) REC could tap the large pool of readily available talents and knowledge workers from the well-established semiconductor industry in Singapore since solar and semiconductor manufacturing share many similarities, (2) strong government commitment to green and renewable energy technology and the large funding to green technology research, (3) compared to other regions, Singapore provides a relatively more secure and stable environment, as well as excellent infrastructure support, for manufacturing. The solar plant is expected to start production in 2010, making solar wafers, cells and modules. This $6.3 billion REC investment pales the earlier $150 million solar plant investment in Aug by indigenous Solar Morph Pte. Ltd with Applied Materials (Ref).

I believe the solar and semiconductor industry in Singapore will complement each other and propel Singapore’s semiconductor industry to a new level. In particular, local companies supporting the Fabs and facilities will definitely benefit from this new area of opportunities. Wafer substrate suppliers might also gain from the strong demand for polysilicon substrates. Workers from the semiconductor industry will also have more options to venture into this new emerging industry.

The slideshow below is the Singapore press conference prospectus from the REC.

 

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