UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OSAKA KOBE 000092

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

COMMERCE FOR ITA BRICKMAN AND SANTILLO

DOE FOR PI BISCONTI AND EE CHALK AND KIMBIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: BEXP EINV ENRG ECON JA
SUBJECT: Sharp Doubles Down, Heavily Invests in Solar
Boom

REF: (A) OSAKA KOBE 24
(B) TOKYO 596


1. (SBU) Summary: In follow up to a meeting earlier this
year (Ref A), we toured Sharp Corporation's state-of-the-
art 160mw capacity photovoltaic (PV) plant in Katsuragi,
Nara with Embassy's Energy Attach and discussed with
senior executives from Sharp's Solar Group, the company's
short and mid-term plans to expand solar panel production
facilities in Japan, Europe and the United States.
Following the opening in March 2010 of its 480mw PV
facility in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, Sharp plans in
2011, to open a 160mw thin-film PV facility in Italy. By
2012 when Sharp predicts PV demand will triple to nearly
16GW, Sharp hopes to have identified and begun
development of a suitable site in the United States for a
similar thin-film PV facility and soon thereafter, to
expand crystalline PV production at its existing facility
in Memphis, Tennessee. Longer term, Sharp is actively
considering building a new crystalline PV facility
somewhere in the United States. End Summary.

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Executive Conversations
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2. (SBU) Sharp's Katsuragi, Nara facility which opened in
1981 continues to produce state-of-the-art thin-film and
crystalline solar cells. Work at the plant continued
non-stop during the Golden Week holiday in April as the
plant continued to produce a half million PV panels a day
in keeping with its annual production of 160 mw of power
generating capacity. In March 2010, Sharp will begin
production at its new facility in Sakai City near Kansai
International Airport with a projected production
capacity of 480 mw per year, three times the production
at the Katsuragi plant. Even before the opening of the
Sakai plant, the company's solar panels currently account
for half of those in use in Japan and for approximately 2
GW out of the total estimated worldwide solar power
production of 8 GW, says Hideto Yamaji, Global Manager
for Sharp's Solar Systems Group.


3. (SBU) Toshihiko Hirobe, Executive Officer and General
Manager of Sharp's Solar System Group told us that when
the Sakai plant com

es on line, Sharp believes it will be
able to boost its combined annual production above 1GW
and lower the average cost of producing solar power to
Y23/kwh in 2010. Sharp projects power generation parity
by 2015 and Y14.3/kwh by 2020, but the company's longer
term goal is to make solar power comparable in cost to
the current Y7.1/kwh cost for nuclear power.


4. (SBU) Sharp's short-term focus is domestic growth,
with overseas growth becoming a priority only after the
2010 opening of the Sakai PV plant, says Hirobe. He told
us that the company has been working closely with Prime
Minister Taro Aso's administration and has requested GOJ
subsidies to facilitate technical developments and growth
in the domestic solar power market. The solar feed-in-
tariff (Ref B) has been a huge help, Hirobe added. After
2010, Sharp hopes that globalized production through
expansion of its overseas production and assembly will
help it to further reduce costs. He credits Sharp's
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Katsuhiko Machida
with pushing Sharp's global solar expansion efforts.


5. (SBU) Dr. Tetsuroh Muramatsu, Executive Officer and
General Manager of Sharp's Solar Systems Development
Group added that Sharp recognizes that to improve its
global and especially its research and development
operations, it needs to be viewed as a domestic insider.
To that end, Sharp's regional R&D centers in the United
States, Europe, China and Japan are now led by
individuals from those countries.

OSAKA KOBE 00000092 002 OF 002



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Future Investments: First, a U.S. Thin-Film Plant
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6. (SBU) Naoharu Matsuda, Chief of Global Business
Development at Sharp's Solar System Group confirmed that
Sharp is already engaged in Italy on a joint 160mw
project for the manufacture of thin-film solar cell
panels with ENEL, Italy's largest power company and by

2011. By 2012, he added, Sharp believes PV demand will
have tripled to nearly 16GW, and the company wants to
have located a suitable location for a thin-film plant in
the United States, but the costs for building the
projected U.S. facility remain a challenge. A newly
establish 480 mw thin-film facility will employ 500-600
directly plus locally sourced associated component inputs
such as glass. Initially, says Matsuda, Sharp plans to
send the thin-film PV modules produced in the United
States facility to the EU market.

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And Then Crystalline Investment(s)
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7. (SBU) Yamaji noted that eight to ten U.S. states
including Kentucky, Virginia, California, Colorado and
Oregon have approached Sharp about a variety of solar
investments in their states. He indicated that while
longer term Sharp wants to establish a new crystalline
production facility in the United States, Sharp would
likely move first to expand existing operations at its
plant in Memphis, Tennessee that has been producing
crystalline PV modules at the rate of 100 mw per year
since May 2003. Yamaji mentioned Camas, Washington as a
possible site under consideration, and confirmed that a
new crystalline facility would have employment levels
similar to that at Katsuragi which directly employs 1000
to 1500.

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Sakai Smart Grid Project
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8. (U) In conjunction with the opening of its new PV
plant in Sakai, Sharp is teaming with Kansai Electric
Power Co. (KEPCO) to push the development of a smart
power grid that smoothes the incorporation of power
produced from solar and other alternative energy sources.
In 2010, Sakai City will begin testing a system that
connects individual homes in Sakai with solar power
systems via the internet in an effort to centrally manage
system-wide output. Sakai plans to absorb surplus
electricity produced by residences by using it to help
power the city's new light-rail system. Sharp hopes the
initiative boosts sales of solar power systems and KEPCO
seeks to fine-tune incorporation of alternative energy in
line with its Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS)
obligations to curb carbon dioxide emissions and
operating costs.

DONG