— Kyocera Corp., the world's fourth- largest solar-battery maker, will spend 55 billion yen ($527 million) to more than double production of solar-battery cells and meet demand for renewable energy.
Kyocera, based in Kyoto, western Japan, plans to raise solar-battery cell output to the equivalent of 650 megawatts by the end of March 2012 from 300 megawatts targeted this fiscal year, Chikako Morioka, a company spokeswoman, said by telephone today, confirming a report in the Nikkei newspaper.
Of the 55 billion yen, the company, also a maker of electronics components used in mobile phones and digital cameras, will spend 45 billion yen to expand production at a plant in Shiga prefecture, central Japan, Morioka said.
For the year ending March 2009, the company intends to make solar-battery cells that can produce 550 megawatts of power, up from an originally planned 500 megawatts, the spokeswoman said.
Kyocera fell 1.8 percent to close at 7,850 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, compared with a 2.2 percent drop by the Nikkei 225 Stock Average. The shares have lost 21 percent this year.
