Kyocera to set up 700 million yen solar cell plant in Czech Republic

Kyodo News International, Tokyo --Sep. 22--OSAKA, Japan

Sep. 22--OSAKA, Japan -- Kyocera Corp. said Wednesday it will spend 700 million yen to set up a new solar cell plant in the Czech Republic to boost its global output and meet growing demand.

Kyocera Solar Europe s.r.o.'s plant, which is slated to start operations in April next year, will be the production base for the European market, mainly Germany, and will have an initial monthly production capacity of 1 megawatt.

The plant will increase its monthly output capacity to 4-5 megawatts by the end of fiscal 2005, Kyocera said.

Kyocera will also increase production lines at its solar cell plant in Yokaichi, Shiga Prefecture, to double its monthly output to 20 megawatts in August next year, it said.

In addition, Kyocera's plant in Mexico, which was set up in April, will become operational on Oct. 1 with an initial output of 1 megawatt per month, it said, adding the monthly output will be raised to 3 megawatts by the end of fiscal 2005.

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