he global production capacity of solar cells will increase to 4.8GWp (gigawatts-peak) at the end of 2007 with China’s global share growing to 16.7%, surpassing Taiwan’s 10%, according to projections by the Photovoltaics Technology Center (PVTC) under the government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).

Taiwan’s production capacity will be slightly higher than China’s at the end of this year, noted PVTC.

Suntech Power Holdings and Nanjing PV-Tech, the top two producers of solar cells in China, together will account for 12.5% of the global production capacity at the end of 2007, PVTC indicated. Factoring in other makers in China, including new ones to be established, the country’s total production capacity will account for 16.7% of the global total at the end of next year, PVTC noted.

Suntech, in particular, is expanding its production capacity to possibly exceed 300MWp this year, which would bump it from eight in production ranking in 2005 to fourth next to Sharp, Q-Cells and Kyocera, PVTC added.

China’s fast growing production capacity of solar cells is attributed to China’s promotion of solar cell and polycrystalline silicon production, as well as the country having a large domestic market, said PVTC.