Arise signs four-year deal to supply 80 MW of solar PV cells to Asola

The German subsidiary of Arise Technologies has signed a four-year contract to supply solar photovoltaic cells to Asola Advanced and Automotive Solar Systems for integration into solar modules. The contract, which runs through Dec. 31, 2012, calls on Arise to supply approximately 80 MW of PV cells to Asola on a take-or-pay basis based on industry-standard pricing established for the life of the deal. The value of the contract is approximately $200 million (Canadian).

The companies said that Asola will make prepayments to Arise according to industry standards, with these funds being applied to future invoices on cell shipments. Arise will be supplying the multicrystalline-silicon cells from its manufacturing plant, which opened in Bischofswerda, Germany, in April of this year.

"Our new four-year PV cell supply agreement with Asola is significant for Arise in several respects," said Chris Waters, Arise's VP of business development and marketing. "It is Arise's third major, large-volume supply agreement and will account for much of our remaining production capacity in 2009."

"Second, Asola has partners in module production and systems integration in Germany, Italy, Spain, France, South Korea, India, Morocco, and the United States. This supply agreement gives Arise a very flexible customer base able to deploy cells rapidly into the highest-demand regions around the world."

"We are looking forward to working with ARISE as a partner with Asola," said Reinhard Wecker, founder/president/CEO of Asola. "After considering various potential suppliers of PV cells, we selected ARISE for a number of reasons, including its commitment to working with us for our mutual success, its plant and team in Germany, and its technology and plans to produce increasingly efficient PV cells during the life of this contract."

Arise has also signed multiyear PV cell supply deals with module manufacturers Solon and aleo solar.