Reported by Jeanny Lim (swied@infothe.com)

 JA Solar has become one of the largest monocrystalline solar cell manufacturers in the world since its founding in 2005. What was the impetus for forming the company?

Our parent company Jinglong, the largest mono-wafer company of China, wanted to go downstream of cell business to catch the explosive growth of the solar industry globally.

JA Solar is the holding company of JingAo Solar Co., Ltd. What kind of benefits are there from being partnered with the world‘s largest monocrystalline silicon manufacturer, JingLong Group?

It is very important to have a strong and stable supply relationship with JingLong that benefits JA Solar both of quality and quantity in a very dynamic solar market.

What kind of new technologies has JA Solar developed recently?

JA Solar is a high technology company with two R&D centers--one is our solar cell technology center and the other is the solar material R&D center. JA Solar has a very strong technology development team with more than 100 employees globally. JA Solar has joint R&D programs with international technology companies and technology centers. For example, JA Solar is working on the development of leading technology that can be used in mass production with silicon ink technology for highly efficient solar cells. The silicon ink technology is from Innovalight, a company based in Silicon Valley, the U.S.A. We have achieved more than 18.6% of efficiency recently and will be in volume production later 2010.

What has personally motivated you to invest in crystalline silicon solar cells? Can you tell us a little bit about your background and your expertise?

I have been working in the semiconductor industry as a technologist and technology manager for more than 20 years in high-tech companies at Silicon Valley. I am very excited to see the solar industry emerging as a large business after many years of research. It is wonderful to work on green energy which can benefit mankind while it is also a very good business. I have a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Minnesota and I was also a research fellow from University of California Berkeley on semiconductor. Solar cell is a semiconductor device for which I can utilize my many years of experience in both semiconductor technology and equipment manufacturing.

What is JA Solar‘s greatest achievement so far in terms of increasing solar cell efficiency?

JA Solar has been one of the world leaders in solar cell manufacturing. Our mass production technology has been generating one of the highest volume production cell efficiencies in the industry for both monocrystalline and multicrystalline solar cells. Our cells have been widely used in modules worldwide.

What is the most recent efficiency of the monocrystalline and multicrystalline silicon solar cells?

For volume production, on average, the mono is 17.5% and multi is 16.2%. For next volume production technology, JA Solar will have 18.6% and 16.8% efficiency later 2010, which represents the industry‘s leading position.

Production volume and sales target this year?

Exceeding 900 MW this year.

What is your worldwide presence?

JA is a global company and listed on NASDAQ. JA Solar has a very strong customer base in China as well as major customers globally. JA Solar has sales offices in Shanghai, China; Munich, Germany and California, the U.S.A. Because of JA Solar‘s technology and cost and scale advantage, many major leading international solar companies are seeking partnership with us. 2010 will be an important year for JA‘s increasing global presence.

How do you see the company‘s relationship with other important solar players?

We are an ideal partner for international companies who have brand name and sales channel and are looking for a high quality and low-cost manufacturing partner in China. Our OEM strategy has been widely accepted by major international solar players. We are more focused on solar cells. So most important downstream solar players are our good customers.

Who are your main customers? And what is your commitment to customers‘s need?

Our main customers are leading solar module and installation/EPC companies from Europe, the U.S.A., China as well as the rest of the world. Our commitment to high quality, low cost and large scale is highly appreciated in the solar community.

What is JA Solar‘s outstanding strength when compared with other competitors?

Highly focused business model on solar cells not competing with our customers in brand name and sales channel is our strategy. We believe we are the largest manufacturer for solar cells with highest quality, low cost and large scale. No one can compete with JA Solar in all the above areas.

Please comment on JA Solar‘s ultimate vision.

Our vision is to work together with the global green energy industry to create a green, affordable solar energy for our future.

Jeanny Lim is Editor-in-Chief of InterPV. Send your comments to swied@infothe.com.

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