TMCnet News
Sharp to withdraw from solar cell business in Italy(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sharp Corp. said Thursday it will withdraw from the solar cell manufacturing business in Italy by selling all its stake in 3Sun S.r.l. for 1 euro as intense competition with Chinese and other rivals squeezed its earnings. With the exit from the joint venture with companies including Italian utility group Enel, Sharp will have only one manufacturing base for solar batteries in the city of Sakai in Osaka Prefecture. 3Sun will continue its operation as a wholly owned subsidiary of Enel Green Power S.p.A but Sharp says it will continue providing technological assistance for manufacturing thin-film solar cells. Sharp already announced dissolving a solar power generation joint venture with the Enel group and is also considering selling its U.S. subsidiary Recurrent Energy, which develops megasolar plants. The Japanese company plans to focus its resources in Japan and turn its business around by increasing the number of projects in which it undertakes designing and development of megasolar plants. (c) 2014 Kyodo News |