Sharp to invest $729mln in new solar cell plant

Japanese consumer electronics maker Sharp Corp said on
Thursday it would spend 72 bln yen ($729 mln) to build a new solar cell plant
in Sakai, western Japan.

Sharp said in July it would build the world’s largest solar
cell plant by March 2010, along with a 380 bln yen liquid crystal display (LCD)
panel plant, but it did not disclose the size of capital investments for the
solar cell factory.

Sharp competes with Germany‘s
Q-Cells in solar cells. Solar companies around the world are expanding
production capacity rapidly to meet growing demand for green energy to counter
global warming.