Europe’s biggest manufacturer of solar panels is to create 300 new jobs at a plant in the UK.
Sharp said the expansion in Wrexham, North Wales, follows the extension of its production facilities and will increase the workforce from 800 to 1,100.
The company anticipates that the enlarged factory, which was first announced in July last year, will almost double production capacity, manufacturing an additional 8,000 panels every day by March 2011.
The announcement is a reflection of the view that the UK has become a small but high-growth solar power market since the introduction of incentives last year.
Andrew Lee, head of international sales for Sharp, said: “This job creation proves that there is an appetite for solar technology in the UK and that this sector has huge growth potential, bucking the trend in the wider economy.”
Lee added that the UK’s feed-in tariffs, the scheme which pays users per unit of electricity produced from small-scale low-carbon energy up to five MW, has given a boost to the solar industry.
Last year, homes and companies in the UK installed a record 33 MW of solar panels, more than doubling the total installed base after the government introduced the feed-in tariffs in April.
The incentives reward solar power more than any other technology, at up to £0.41 per kilowatt hour from 2010 to 2011 for small, roof-top systems, reflecting the fact that solar is more expensive than most other alternatives.
