First Philec ties up with Korean firm for solar plant

Manila Times.net

FIRST Philec Solar Corp. (FPSC) has signed a joint venture agreement with a Korean firm for the construction of a solar wafer plant in Laguna.

Arthur de Guia, FPSC president, said the company will team up with Nexolon of Korea to put up a solar wafer manufacturing facility with a 400-megawatt yearly capacity.

FPSC will invcest $100 million in the project, which is expected to begin operations by the fourth quarter of the year.

The solar wafer plant will be located in a 3.5-hectare property at the First Philippine Industrial Park in Laguna and will employ around 500 new workers.

One of the biggest solar power developers in Korea, Nexolon will secure the output of the facility for its solar panel production operations.

FPSC is the first and only large-scale silicon wafer slicing company in the Philippines. It manufactures solar wafers, the basic raw material of solar cells.

The company is a joint venture between Lopez-led First Philippine Electric Corp. (First Philec) and SunPower Philippines Manufacturing Ltd. (SPML), a subsidiary of SunPower Corp. of the US. First Philex holds an 80-percent stake in FPSC, while SPML owns the remaining 20 percent.

Aside from its tieup with Nexolon, FPSC also is looking for other possible joint venture partners to become one of the biggest in Southeast Asia, de Guia said.

FPSC aims to increase its solar wafer production line from 87 to 100 wire saws, churning out 240 million wafers a year for up to 720 megawatts of solar energy.
EUAN PAULO C. AÑONUEVO