Sharp Energy Solutions Europe, which moved its sales and marketing operations to London from Germany last year, has said its solar module assembly plant in Wrexham is running at near full-capacity to meet renewed demand from the European residential market.
Peter Thiele, executive vice president at Sharp Energy Solutions Europe explained: “We see continuous demand for photovoltaic modules in Europe. Our European factory, located in Wales, is operating at near maximum capacity, also supporting demand from Japan.
“The focus in Europe lies on the home installation market, with valuable support for installers in the residential segment. Our position as a global electronics company helped us to balance the impact of the PV market dynamics. As a result, our business has been less affected by recent market volatility compared to competitors.”
Only a year ago, local media reports suggested the Wrexham plant was reducing production and workers at the plant were being laid-off due to competition and weak demand in Europe.
According to Thiele, Sharp Energy Solutions Europe is planning to introduce a range of new complementary products in Europe, including LED lighting, storage and entire energy solution concepts that are planned to be rolled out over the next three years.
The company also noted that as a European manufacturer, it was able to provide installers stability in a market which had been disrupted by import duty agreements and declining feed-in tariffs, while providing high quality, fully guaranteed products as well as full support, aftercare and attractive financing models for residential users.