China’s Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd saw prices for its solar panels rise in the fourth quarter from the third quarter, and expects those prices to remain steady through the first half of 2011, a senior executive said on Thursday.
Prices in Europe, the company’s largest market, climbed slightly on both a euro-basis and because of gains in the currency there, said Steven Chan, Suntech America’s president.
“We see (prices) holding through the first half … there might be slight reductions in the second half,” he told Reuters in an interview.
Suntech is the world’s largest manufacturer of photovoltaic panels that turn sunlight into electricity, but its market value of $1.6 billion is far below the sector leader First Solar’s $16 billion.
Still, Suntech announced earlier on Thursday it would provide the solar panels for a 150-megawatt Sempra Energy solar power plant in Arizona, winning a contract from the company that has previously favored First Solar’s equipment.
Suntech, which opened its first U.S. panel manufacturing site in Goodyear, Arizona last year, sold 65 MW of panels in North America in December, topping the 55 MW it sold in the region during all of 2009, Chan said.
The company is targeting sales of 500 MW in North America this year, double the 250 MW is sold in 2010.
U.S. demand for solar power is believed to have doubled last year to about 1,000 MW, and panel makers are betting the country’s growing green power consumption will help offset stagnant markets in Europe, where renewable energy subsidies are being trimmed.
Chan said Suntech might also see declines later this year in prices it pays third parties for polysilicon wafers, which are used in its panels, allowing it to cut costs to its customers.
The new Sempra plant, named Mesquite Solar 1, will be built by Zachry Holdings Inc. Electricity from the plant will be purchased by California utility Pacific Gas & Electric, pending approval from California regulators.
Suntech will supply more than 800,000 solar panels for the project, the first phase of Sempra’s planned 700 MW Mesquite Solar energy complex outside Phoenix.
Chan said Suntech could be interested in setting up a partnership with a U.S. project developer, similar to the deal it announced with Siemens last week.
“That is something we would like to pursue in the U.S. as well,” he said.
Shares in Suntech closed down 6 cents to $9.07 on the New York Stock Exchange.
