受政府补贴刺激，专家预计（到2010年会计年）日本本土组件销售量将加倍。届时本地是市场销售量预计为400-500MW。 本国光伏组件产能也增加到了2.5G，日本超越西班牙成为继德国之后的第二大市场。
政府当局推出了自一月份起¥70,000/1kW 的补贴， 在加上前四月份推出的，各省的补贴。需求急速升温，本国在太阳能发电方面的投资增加了100%。报道显示。
夏普，京瓷，三洋，三菱的自4月份到现在的三个月来在本国出货量量迅速加倍。他们也期待该增加将会持续到明年春天。三洋在其大津，滋贺县（某地名Otsu, Shiga Prefecture）比预计提前2月达到满产。同时，该公司正在斥资¥13B扩产其位于大津的180MW生产线,该产线将于2010年投产。三菱希望在本月加倍其逆变器等平衡系统的出货量。本田（Honda Soltec）一电池片产能迅速从50%产能变成满产，相当于27.5MW的年产量。
日本电池片生产商同样对欧洲客户投入了更大的热情，即使是在欧洲市场上大型工业级电站受金融危机处于淡季的情况下。三菱，前只向德国及意大利销售，在短短数月内已经扩大了了包括英国在内的五个国家。本国员工也迅速增加了50%，他们同时销售组件；三洋，也正在努力的进入户用市场。
在市场的严峻状况下，太阳能供货商的主要目标仍然是工业级电站项目。夏普正在就在意大利本地生产薄膜组件来降低成本与Enel SpA “交谈中”。京瓷也逐渐在增加他在欧洲的分支机构，其相关工作人员迅速扩大到100人。
原文/Shine及索比联合编译
October 29, 2009 - Spurred by government subsidies, domestic sales of solar cells are forecast to double in the current fiscal year (through March 2010) to 400-500MW, boosting the country's total solar output capacity to 2.5GW and supplanting Spain for the No.2 spot globally behind Germany, notes the Nikkei daily.
The central government has been offsetting ¥70,000/1kW since January, on top of what local governments have offered since April. Demand also has heated up ahead of an upcoming 100% increase in the price that utilities pay for solar-generated electricity, the paper notes.
Sharp, Kyocera, Sanyo Electric, and Mitsubishi Electric saw domestic shipments roughly double in the past six months (since April), and they're responding in anticipation that the trend will continue through next spring. Sanyo is ramping to full production at its factory in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, about two months earlier than scheduled; it's also spending ¥13B to install four production lines (180MW) at a plant in Osaka to be onstream in 2010, notes the paper. Mitsubishi Electric, meanwhile, aims to double output capacity for solar power system control devices starting this month. Honda Soltec is prepping to ramp a solar cell production to full capacity, up from current 50% capacity, equivalent to roughly 27.5MW.
Japanese solar cell producers also are turning more attention to the European consumer market, given the slack in large-scale industrial projects due to the financial turmoil, the Nikkei notes. Mitsubishi Electric, for example, had sold solar panels in Germany and Italy, but expanded to five countries (including the UK) in the past few months and increased local staff by about 50%; it also is selling panels beyond wholesalers to include other equipment installers (e.g. air conditioners). Sanyo, too, is making further inroads into the European residential market, the paper notes.
Despite the tougher market, industrial projects are still key to solar suppliers' strategies, though. Sharp is "in talks" with Italian utility Enel SpA to locally coproduce thin-film solar cells whose lower costs offset their lower efficiency than what is used by consumers. Kyocera's exposure to the European market has expanded from its initial presence in Germany to sales offices in Italy, France, and the Czech Republic, with staff nearly doubling to more than 100 by the end of the current fiscal year, the paper notes.
