Japan's NSG said on 16 Oct/08 that it has been modifying its US plants to boost solar cell glass output but expressed concerns about missing business chances as demand will likely grow faster than it can keep up with. Nippon Sheet Glass, which competes with Japan's Asahi Glass Co; France's Saint-Gobain & US-based Guardian, sees glass for solar power equipment as a growth driver in a booming market for renewable energy. "The issue is not the lack of growth opportunity. The issue is in the business decision that we make", NSG CEO Stuart Chambers told reporters, citing the outlook for solar cell glass demand as jumping 7 times in 5 years. "It's very, very difficult for us to be able to invest fast enough to keep pace with capacity demands of our customers, & therefore we've got a bit of a concern in about 3y we are going to have a real problem supplying enough", he said. Nippon Sheet Glass generated a little over 1% of its annual revenues from selling solar cell glass in the last business year, while 90% of revenues still came from its two main divisions: building products and automotive glass.
