Japanese imaging and electronics company Ricoh has announced plans to begin producing perovskite solar cells in Japan by 2030.
The factory will be located at Ricoh Industry Co., Ltd.’s Tohoku site in Shibata, Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan, and will use a manufacturing process based on Ricoh’s proprietary inkjet technology. “With future expansion to GW-scale production in mind, Ricoh aims to establish annual production capacity of several hundred MW by 2030,” the company said in a statement.
Ricoh said its inkjet technology enables precise control over microscopic droplets, allowing materials to be deposited in the required quantities at specific locations. By using the technology to pattern-print all functional layers of perovskite solar cells, the company aims to improve material utilization, simplify manufacturing processes, increase productivity and reduce production costs.
“Ricoh has pursued research and development of organic solar cells based on organic photoconductor technologies developed through the innovation of its multifunction printers,” the company said. “Technologies cultivated through these efforts are now being applied to perovskite solar cells.”
Ricoh said the combination of inkjet printing and substrate transport technologies developed for commercial printing enables continuous, high-speed processing of roll-to-roll substrates, increasing production throughput while reducing manufacturing costs.
In November 2025, Ricoh announced that its perovskite solar cells would undergo testing aboard the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) unmanned HTV-X1 cargo spacecraft. The two-month demonstration was designed to assess power generation, electrical performance and durability under space conditions. Ricoh has been developing perovskite solar cells for space applications in collaboration with JAXA since 2017.
The company previously tested its perovskite solar technology aboard the Denden-01 satellite, launched in 2024 for a six-month evaluation. Ricoh has identified low-light performance, resistance to cosmic radiation and the potential for lightweight, flexible designs as key advantages of perovskite solar cells for space applications.
In September 2025, Ricoh also joined a five-year research project with Daiwa House Industry and NTT Anode Energy to develop perovskite solar technology for building-integrated and building-attached PV applications. The project, backed by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), focuses on improving manufacturing processes and developing installation solutions for rooftops of logistics facilities and exterior walls of data centers.
Ricoh’s move follows that of Japanese electronics manufacturer Panasonic, which last week began commercial sales of its glass-based perovskite solar panels, ahead of the planned launch of full-scale mass production in April 2029.
The commercialization efforts come as the Japanese government seeks to establish a domestic perovskite solar industry. In November 2024, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) announced a target of deploying around 20 GW of perovskite solar capacity by 2040.
The government also outlined plans to support domestic manufacturing and reduce production costs to JPY 14 ($0.09)/W by 2030 and JPY 10/W by 2040. In September 2025, the Ministry of the Environment introduced subsidy programs to support early deployment of perovskite solar cells and their integration with battery storage systems.
Japan has since stepped up its support for the technology. In May 2026, NEDO opened a supplementary funding call under its Green Innovation Fund to advance mass-production technologies for single-junction perovskite solar cells.
In September, the Ministry of the Environment announced plans to exclude conventional silicon solar panels from newly introduced subsidy programs starting in fiscal 2027, prioritizing perovskite and other next-generation solar technologies. The policy shift is intended to strengthen Japan’s industrial competitiveness and accelerate the commercialization of emerging photovoltaic technologies.
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