Japan's Konica Minolta Holdings said it would begin selling organic solar cells in three years, taking aim at growing demand for renewable energy sources.

Organic solar cells are bendable and cost less to manufacture than silicon-based solar cells, which currently dominate the market.

Konica Minolta, a maker of copiers, printers and high-tech components, expects organic solar cells to become a major driver of earnings.

"Just like our organic light-emitting diode lighting operations, preparation is underway so that solar cells will become a business of substantial size for us by 2016, 2017," Konica Minolta chief executive Masatoshi Matsuzaki told Reuters in an interview on Friday.

Konica Minolta will cooperate with partner companies in the marketing and technological aspects of the organic solar cell business and details will be unveiled soon, he added.

JPMorgan analyst Hisashi Moriyama said that while it is difficult to predict how successful the company will be in solar cells, Konica Minolta was well placed to break into new businesses.   

"Konica Minolta can take the wide range of technologies it has accumulated as a chemicals maker and use them to break into new fields and offer new products and you have to view that positively," he said.

Konica Minolta plans to start sales of advanced lighting equipment based on organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology by March 2011, targetting annual sales of more than 100 billion yen ($1.1 billion) by 2017.

OLED lighting, which uses organic or carbon-containing compounds that emit light when electricity is applied, is a promising next-generation lighting fixture as it is light, thin and bendable, and unlike fluorescent lamps is also mercury-free.

Matsuzaki also said Konica Minolta has decided to bring forward the start-up of its new LCD film plant from its original autumn target, responding to robust demand from panel makers including a new client, which he declined to identify.

"Demand is running high. This is not the time for us to lie back and take it easy," he said.   

The company competes with Fujifilm Holdings Corp in triacetyl cellulose (TAC) film, which protects the polarisation plates used in LCD panels.

Konica Minolta plans to spend 18 billion yen to build the new factory in Japan, which will be capable of making 50 million square metres of TAC film a year.

Global sales of displays used in LCD TVs will likely surge 40 percent to $49.2 billion this year amid a shift in demand to larger and more advanced panels, research firm iSuppli has said. - Reuters