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GT Solar has signed contracts of more than $40 million with two wholly owned subsidiaries of China-based GCL-Poly Energy Holdings.

The first agreement, with Jiangsu Zhongneng Polysilicon Technology Development, is for GT Solar’s trichlorosilane (TCS) production technology solution, while the second deal, with Jiangsu GCL Silicon Material Technology Development, is for the equipment company's directional solidification system (DSS) furnaces and ancillary equipment.

These contracts represent the first purchases of GT Solar equipment and services by GCL-Poly and its subsidiaries.

The TCS production solution includes all of the technology and basic engineering services required to produce the raw material (which is used to manufacture polysilicon). The DSS furnaces melt polysilicon and grow multicrystalline ingots, which are utilized to produce solar wafers and, ultimately, solar cells.

Annual polysilicon production capacity of the GCL Solar subsidiary reached 18,000MT at the end of 2009 and is expected to reach 21,000MT by the end of this year, according to the company. The GCL unit has also begun construction of wafer production facilities and hopes to achieve 1GW of capacity by mid-2010.

“GCL-Poly is committed to providing high-quality and cost-competitive solar raw materials by adopting the best-in-class technologies and equipment,” said Zhu Gong Shan, executive director/chairman/CEO of GCL-Poly. “We chose to purchase the TCS production solution and DSS units from GT Solar because of their proven expertise in both polysilicon production and ingot crystallization.

"GT Solar’s TCS production solution should help to improve the quality and lower the cost of our polysilicon operations. Their expected timely delivery of the DSS furnaces should help to ensure that our new ingot and wafer production facility can be up-and-running in 2010,” he added.

“We are pleased to welcome GCL-Poly as a new GT Solar customer for both our polysilicon and photovoltaic equipment businesses,” said Tom Gutierrez, GT Solar’s president/CEO. “Our relationship with GCL-Poly further strengthens our market position in China and reinforces our role as a technology leader."