TAIPEI: Giga Solar Materials Corp has acquired a solar power station in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan.
The Taiwanese solar-cell material supplier said that it spent ￥1.8 billion (US$14.51 million) to acquire the station on Kyushu with a planned capacity of 4 megawatts (MW).
Market analysts said the acquisition showed that the Taiwanese firm expects rising global demand for green energy this year.
According to a research report by Taipei-based market information advisory firm TrendForce Corp, the worldwide installation of solar energy equipment this year is expected to reach 52 gigawatts (GW), up 18 percent from a year earlier.
Construction of the solar power station in Fukuoka is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
The transaction follows the blueprint established by Giga Solar’s earlier acquisition of a similar power station in Fukushima Prefecture, which started commercial production in late May.
According to Giga Solar, after the start of mass production at the Fukuoka plant, the company will own total power generation capacity of 21MW in Japan.
Analysts said that the investments in solar power generation facilities would ensure Giga Solar has an alternative long-term sales source.
They said solar power stations have a life span of 20 to 25 years, during which time Giga Solar is expected to make stable profits.
Analysts said that Giga Solar could potentially enjoy as much as a 50 percent gross margin from its Fukushima investment, which would strengthen the firm’s bottom line at a time when solar energy product prices have been rebounding after recent falls.
On the back of recovering product prices, Giga Solar is expected to leave behind the effects of the traditionally slow first quarter of the year and post higher sales in the second quarter, analysts said.
Consolidated revenue in the second quarter could reach NT$3.5 billion (US$112.46 million), a new quarterly record, they said.
The company’s sales for the third quarter could rise to about NT$4 billion, another record.
Giga Solar posted NT$2.82 billion in consolidated sales in the first quarter, a 7 percent fall from the fourth quarter last year.
Amid growing optimism over earnings projections, shares in Giga Solar rose 1.05 percent to close at NT$578 on the local over-the-counter (OTC) market on Friday, outperforming the OTC index, which fell 0.09 percent.
