Feb 21 2011
Formosa Plastics (FPC), a Taiwan-based plastic manufacturing company, has decided to double the output of its solar-energy EVA (ethylenevinyl acetate) to meet the growing demand from the petrochemical and solar-energy segments.
The company has initiated a two-stage EVA investment plan at its production plant in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, in China. On the completion of the first stage, the plant will produce 75,000 tons of EVA and the completion of the second stage will increase the total output of the plant to 200,000 tons. With the receipt of purchase orders from the solar-energy packaging films producers in China, the company has decided a twofold increase in the yearly manufacture of EVA to 60 million tons to grasp EVA orders worth US$342.46 million.
According to C.T. Lee, Chairman of FPC, only the government subsidies triggered the fast growth of the solar energy industry and the growth will be saturated if the government reduces the subsidies. He said that healthy growth can be achieved by the manufacturers only on reducing the production costs and making the products available at a cheaper rate instead of depending on the subsidies. To assist the solar companies to lessen their production costs, FPC and its associated companies are increasing their production capability of solar-energy-grade EVA.
A survey made by the company indicates that the worldwide requirement for solar-energy grade EVA packaging films will reach 225 million square meters and the demand for solar-energy-grade EVA will go up to 120,000 tons this year. The solar incentive offered by the Chinese government is anticipated to increase the requirement for EVA chips by 20 to 30% this year.