BP Taps into Asian Demand for Solar Energy

May 24 - International Herald Tribune

BP, one of the largest makers of solar cells, expects Asian sales to accelerate as 1 billion people seek access to electricity and developed nations like Japan reduce fuel imports.

Sales in the Asian market could grow 50 percent a year by 2016, from a maximum of 30 percent now, driven by increased demand in China, South Korea and Japan, Mark Twidell, BP Solar's director for Asia, said. BP expects global solar manufacturing revenue to double by 2008 from almost $500 million in 2005.

Asia is poised to overtake Germany as the industry's main source of growth as rising prices for oil, natural gas and coal drive demand for renewable energy. The trend has prompted the emergence of specialized solar companies like the Chinese Suntech Power Holdings and the German Q-Cells and Conergy.

"Energy security, I think, is a huge driver" for solar energy demand, Twidell said recently. "There's a good school of thought that says just from a straight risk-portfolio perspective you need renewables in your portfolio in that they are not linked to the price of oil or the price of carbon."

BP in December formed a joint venture in China with China Xinjiang SunOasis, China's largest electrical transformer company, with the aim of tapping a market that is set to multiply 50-fold in the next 15 years.

China's solar market is currently about 20 megawatts a year, and the country is targeting growth of about 1,000 megawatts a year by 2020, about three-quarters of the global market today, Twidell said. South Korea is aiming for similar growth, he said.

Asian solar panel equipment sales could rise to $36.1 billion by 2010 from $8.3 billion in 2004, Photon magazine said in August. India, which has become one of the largest markets for wind power generation, also offers potential in solar energy as use is currently "very low," KPMG International said this month in a report.

A surge in demand for solar power would benefit BP and rivals like Kyocera and Sharp, which last month reported a 28 percent jump in operating profit for its solar panels and rechargeable batteries business.

In November, BP said it would invest $1.8 billion over the next three years in clean and renewable energy.

BP said Nov. 29 that it expected to double its solar-panel manufacturing capacity to 200 megawatts a year by the end of 2006 at its plants in Spain, Australia, the United States and India. The company's Australian plant at Homebush last year completed an $8 million expansion to lift capacity by 25 percent to 50 megawatts a year from 5 megawatts in 2000.

BP's investment in alternative energy this year equates to about 4 percent of its total capital spending budget of about $15 billion. It has about 10 percent of the solar market, which Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia estimated at 1.15 gigawatts in 2004, potentially rising to 1.5 gigawatts in 2005.