Honda Motor Co., Ltd. today announced its plan to begin mass production in 2007 of an independently developed thin film solar cell composed of non-silicon compound materials, which requires 50% less energy, and thus generate 50% less CO2, during production compared to a conventional solar cell. A mass production plant with annual capacity of 27.5 megawatts will be established at Honda’s Kumamoto factory.

Honda will produce and sell solar panels in a limited area, starting from next autumn, using an assembly line within Honda Engineering Co., Ltd.

By using thin film made from a compound of copper, indium, gallium and selenium (CIGS), Honda’s next-generation solar cell achieved a major reduction in energy consumed during the manufacturing process to approximately 50% of that required by conventional crystal silicon solar cells. Honda claims further that this solar cell has achieved the highest level of photoelectric transfer efficiency to date for a thin film solar cell, almost equivalent to the conventional crystal silicon solar cell.

Since spring 2002, Honda has been using and monitoring the performance of this solar cell, first at the Outboard Engine Plant in Hosoe, and then also at 12 other Honda facilities including Honda Engineering headquarters and the Honda Wako Building in Japan and 3 overseas sites such as the U.S. and Thailand.

The mass production of Honda’s thin film solar cell became possible with a new mass production process developed by Honda Engineering – a production engineering company that has long developed production equipment and technologies for Honda’s various products.