LG Electronics will start manufacturing crystalline silicon-wafer based solar cells next month, as it has just recently completed its first solar cell production line. The Gumi, North Gyeongsang-based production line will annually produce about half a million, 1.1 x 1.3 meter solar cells with a total capacity of 120-megawatts (sufficient to power 40,000 homes).
The silicon-wafer cells are comparatively more efficient and capacious than the thin-film solar cells. That is why the former has captured a major bulk of the global solar cell market. Sensing the surge, LG Electronics has invested more than 220 billion won ($186.6 million) and now, it wishes to monopolize or dominate this market. It hopes to open another line in 2011.
Via: Akihabara News