News Karbon & Cuaca

Sanyo marks Asia expansion with S’pore’s biggest solar system

Oleh Jessica Cheam

3 minit pembacaan Jan. 20, 2010

WHEN Singapore’s first integrated resort Resorts World Sentosa opens today, it will boast the city’s biggest solar photovoltaic (PV) system, generating 629,000 kilowatt hours of solar energy a year. For the company behind this project – Japan’s Sanyo Asia – its debut marks the beginning of a bright new future in Asia where the firm hopes to establish a clear leadership in environmental products and solutions. Sanyo Asia chief regional officer Mr Yoshinori Nakatani said in an interview this week that the firm is agressively expanding its solar business in Singapore and to a broader extent, Asia. “This solar installation will be the first of many to come,” he said. The growth of such projects will also help “put Singapore on the world map as one of the top centres for sustainable technology in the region,” he added. Singapore’s biggest solar system, which cost $3 million to build, features Sanyo’s unique solar modules called “HIT”(Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer) which holds the world’s record for the highest energy conversion efficiency at 23 per cent. Located at the Ancient Egypt attraction in Resorts World’s Universal Studio theme park, slated to open by next month, the solar installation will generate enough energy to power 108 typical four-room flats and will reduce carbon emissions by 342 tonnes a year. The firm won the tender for the project last July. Sanyo has identified the green technologies business, or “cleantech” as it is known, as an industry with massive potential given the rapidly growing concerns on climate change and environmental sustainability. Its strategic move comes swiftly after Panasonic completed a US$4.6 billion buyout for Sanyo last month, creating one of the world’s largest electronics makers. The newly-formed alliance is betting big on the cleantech sector, and intends to invest US$19 billion between 2009 and 2011 in its rechargeable batteries and solar business. Both firms manufacture rechargeable batteries to car-makers for electric vehicles – a sector that is also set to explode in the next decade. Despite the buyout, Sanyo will continue to keep its identity, even as both firms move to integrate its businesses and staff, which in Asia Pacific numbers 26,600 for Sanyo and 60,000 for Panasonic, said Mr Nakatani. The firm, which will be driving its expansion in Asia with Singapore as its base, chose the city-state as its regional headquarters for its business-friendly environment, and the “high technical know-how” of its labour force, said Mr Nakatani. Sanyo is also in talks with local agencies such as A*Star, the Economic Development Board and the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore on collaboration in solar research and development (R&D). Mr Naktani added that Sanyo is confident of its suite of environmental products on offer; it aims to achieve an operating profit of US$900 million for 2011 – an ambitious task, given its operating profit for 2009 is estimated at US$276 million. EDB has in recent years also agressively moved to build Singapore’s cleantech industry. The Government has invested $680 million in clean energy and water technologies, while EDB has wooed big-name firms like Norway’s Renewable Energy Corp to set up shop. The EDB expects the sector to contribute $1.7 billion to gross domestic product by 2015, providing 18,000 jobs, and has plans to build a Cleantech Park in Jalan Bahar where companies can test-bed environmental products and solutions. Besides solar, Sanyo will also be expanding its energy storage and energy saving business such as in rechargeable batteries and efficient electronics in Asia under its “Think Gaia” brand, which loosely translates to “Think Earth”. Mr Nakatani said Sanyo is commited to developing only products that are absolutely essential to life and targets to reduce the firm’s carbon footprint by 20 million tonnes by 2020.

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