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Sharp Corporation, the global leader in solar energy production, and its sales and marketing subsidiary Sharp Electronics (UK) Ltd, today officially opened their first solar module manufacturing plant in Europe, based in Wrexham, North Wales.

The facility will assemble mono crystalline and poly crystalline solar modules for residential and commercial installations. Annual production for 2004 is predicted at 20MW and it is planned to double the capacity in order to meet the expansion of the demand for photovoltaics in Europe.

The opening of the new plant in Wrexham is part of Sharp s global strategy to capitalise on the increasing worldwide demand for solar products. In June 2004, Sharp Corporation announced the expansion of solar cell production lines at its Shinjo Plant in Nara, Japan to 315MW per year, in order to meet the burgeoning domestic and international interest in photovoltaic modules. In May 2003, US based Sharp Electronics Corporation commenced solar module production in its manufacturing facility in Memphis, Tennessee, assembling solar panels for residential and commercial use.

Commenting on the Wrexham launch, Toshishige Hamano, Corporate Senior Executive Director and Group General Manager International Business Group of Sharp Corporation said, Solar is one of Sharp s global, strategic priorities. After establishing plants to service markets in the US and Pacific Rim regions, the next step was to open a facility within Europe. The expansion of production in both Japan and the US clearly anticipated the increasing demand for solar products. We expect the European market, in Germany and the UK in particular, to mirror this growth. Sharp Corporation has a global strategy to supply products locally where possible, particularly as in this case, it is an area of significant expansion.

He continued, Sharp intends to maintain its position as the world s number one manufacturer of solar cells, which it has held for the past four years, and the corporation s performance within Europe is integral to this policy. Holding a 26.6% share of the global market in 2003* , Sharp is rapidly becoming the name which is synonymous with solar energy.

Daisuke Koshima, European General Manager of Sharp Corporation added, The solar plant at Wrexham will ensure that Sharp Corporation maintains a strong foothold within the European solar market. The facility has been developed in anticipation of increased European demand for solar products, a strategy which has already been vindicated since production has been allocated well into next year. We are delighted that Mr. Hamano has today announced that a second production line will be introduced this October targeting an annual capacity of 40MW.

Sharp Corporation began research and development in solar energy in 1959 and in 1963 commenced mass-production of solar cells. During Sharp s over 40 years long history of solar, Sharp has established excellent durability performance by many installations in extreme conditions such as lighthouses and satellites, and these carrier contribute greatly to the reliability of Sharp solar module.

The manufacturing facility at Wrexham currently employs 475 staff of which 63 are employed in the new solar module facility. It is hoped that with the expansion in the use of photovoltaics, employment numbers will increase in the future.

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