Solar industry to comprise of 4 major categories differing by technology,says NSP chairman Patty Wang,Taipei;Jackie Chang,DIGITIMES[Monday 8 October 2012]Quincy Lin,chairman of Taiwan-based solar cell maker Neo Solar Power(NSP),has indicated that the solar industry will be divided into four categories according to technology-material,components,project,and installation.Strategic alliances between the four categories will be the key to the future of the industry,added Lin.
At PV Taiwan 2012 CEO Forum,Lin noted that the solar industry has been running a fine supply chain with clearly-defined segments.This is easy for the supply chain to suffer from oversupply and hard for upstream material providers to control inventory.When demand at the system end starts to change,fluctuations in upstream inventory become more severe,hence the more upstream the firms are,the harder for the firms to control inventory levels.
Lin added that for a single company to simultaneously excel at up-,mid-,and downstream is hard,because the technology of each segment is very different.To produce polysilicon and solar wafers,the firm needs to understand chemistry;but to produce cells and modules,the firm needs to understand technology.Furthermore,downstream system firms need to obtain knowledge of engineering,procurement,and construction(EPC),which is a localized business.
After consolidation within segments,Lin added,the solar industry can be divided into four core categories.Lin predicts that within the next five years,most solar firms will belong to one of the categories to form alliance with peers.
Quincy Lin,chairman of Neo Solar Power
Photo:Michael Lee,Digitimes,October 2012