Fri, Oct 04, 2024 page12

• Taiwan solar firms seek US exposure

  MARKET OPPORTUNITY: Solar producers TSEC and Motech Industries hope to increase their exports after the US government hits several Southeast Asian nations with high tariffs

  • By Lisa Wang / Staff Reporter
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  Solar cell and module makers TSEC Corp (元晶) and Motech Industries Inc (茂迪) yesterday said they are aiming to boost their exposure to overseas markets, particularly the US, after the US government imposed preliminary duties on solar imports from their Southeastern Asian rivals.

  TSEC, the nation’s biggest solar company with a 35 percent share of the domestic market, said this was the first major shift in its business strategy since 2018, when the company made a U-turn to focus on the local solar market.

  “We are making strides to expand our reach to overseas markets. We hope to diversify our markets and product offerings, which would help to stabilize the company’s operations,” TSEC spokesman Henry Chiang (江郅豪) said.

  

  The TSEC Corp logo is pictured at the company’s booth at the Energy Taiwan trade show in Taipei in an undated photograph.

  Photo courtesy of TSEC Corp

  TSEC aims to rapidly increase the proportion of solar cells it exports to about 30 percent next quarter and 50 percent next year, up from about 10 percent now, Chiang said,

  “We are bullish about our growth in overseas markets, mainly Japan and the US. That is because the US has imposed duties on solar imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. Major Chinese solar companies are scaling down their production in those countries,” Chiang said.

  TSEC said it is in talks to supply solar cells to US customers, who are seeking suppliers outside of China as the US seeks to build a domestic solar supply chain and reduce dependence on Chinese suppliers.

  However, TSEC has no plans to build a new solar cell plant in the US in the near term, the company said. In addition, the company is unclear whether it would be eligible to apply for US subsidies, it said.

  Unlike many of its local peers, TSEC still makes money despite soft demand and weak prices.

  However, its net profit of NT$52 million (US$1.63 million) in the first half of this year was down about 84 percent from a year earlier, with earnings per share of NT$0.10.

  Motech yesterday said it had been approached by several potential customers from the US, Europe and India to source solar cells ahead of new US tariffs on solar imports, company president Fred Yeh (葉正賢) said.

  As the outlook for the Taiwanese solar market looks bleak, Motech has concentrated efforts on overseas markets, which contribute more revenue than the domestic market, he said.

  Solar panel installation in Taiwan is expected to plummet about 37 percent year-on-year to 1.7 gigahertz, compared with 2.7 gigherz last year, Motech estimated.

  The company has begun to produce a new generation of TOPCon solar wafers called G10, which are larger than the previous generation M6 wafers, it said.

  Motech started shipping solar modules containing the new G10 solar cells last month, it said. The new products boast a higher efficiency rate of 23.2 percent sunlight converted to electricity, it added.
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