KUALA LUMPUR: Panasonic on Thursday announced that they have begun solar panel production at a plant in Malaysia in an effort to meet “robust” demand in Japan. The move continues to see Malaysia develop itself into a prime country for alternative and renewable energy production and infrastructure development. The new facility will have a yearly capacity of 300 megawatts and will create wafers and solar cells as well as increase Panasonic's overall module production to 900 mw. The new plant is based in Kedah. The technology giant already has two other solar cell plants in Japan and makes modules in both Japan and Hungary. Panasonic said on October 31 it won't invest further in the 45 billion-yen ($538 million) Malaysia plant after the company forecast a 765 billion-yen loss in the year ending March 31 even as an incentive program for clean energy spurs demand for solar panels in Japan. The company stopped module production in Mexico at the end of August to consolidate operations, according to spokeswoman Chieko Gyobu.