Taiwan's Solar Power Boost

Whether you consider Taiwan to be a self-governing independent state or a renegade province of Mainland China depends on your politics, but one thing is for certain: It's a key player in the manufacture of solar cells globally.

It's so important, in fact, that LDK Solar Co., Ltd. (NYSE:LDK), China's largest maker of solar-grade crystalline silicon wafer, has standing supply contracts with several Taiwanese solar cell producers (although Taiwan's Mosel Vitelic recently severed ties with LDK following a contract dispute).

For their part, Taiwan-based solar cell makers, Motech Industries and Gintech Energy Corporation (TPE:3514), the island's top two solar-cell makers, have seen sales soar amid rising global demand. Roughly 70 Taiwanese companies are involved in the solar industry, producing solar cells with a combined capacity of 2 gigawatts in 2009—analysts expect more than 3 gigawatts this year.

Taiwan is a significant exporter of crystalline silicon solar cells; China and Taiwan jointly control about 40% of the world's wafer-thin photovoltaic solar market. As Taiwan has become a manufacturing powerhouse, it continues to see harmful greenhouse gas emissions rise even as the EU's emission levels have fallen during the economic downturn. But officials in Taipei have moved to tackle the problem.

Subsidies under the government's green energy plan has spawned a domestic solar push, placing Taiwan among the world's leading users of solar water heaters.

Learn more about Solar on eBoom's Solar Energy Learning Page