Trina Solar, the New York-listed Chinese maker of silicon solar panels, is making Singapore its Asia-Pacific regional headquarters.
The Singapore office will take care of managing sales, research and development, and logistics in Trina Solar’s expanding Asia-Pacific business.
Trina Solar had entered Japan, Australia and Korea and hopes the Singapore office will help its expansion into ‘emerging photovoltaic (PV) markets like Thailand and India’.
There may also be tie-ups between Trina Solar and local research institutes, said the company’s executives.
Trina Solar executives expect the Singapore office to generate ‘a significant portion of the company’s global sales over the next several years’.
Trina Solar ended the last financial year with revenue of US$1.86 billion and net income over US$311 million.
Other solar energy companies headquartering parts of their business in Singapore include MEMC and Germany’s Heraeus, which produces the conductive paste used in photovoltaics.
MEMC will headquarter its global cells and modules business in Singapore. Research and development supporting those units will also be done here.
And on Friday, Heraeus will officially open its new manufacturing and R&D facility that can produce 20 tonnes of silver paste a month.
Heraeus’ Tuas, Singapore plant is its fourth one worldwide that serves the PV industry.
