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Suntech’s sales pipeline has received a three-year hike as the company has announced the cementing of three long-term supply agreements for up to 490MW of PV modules. The large orders confirm the optimistic view for 2010 orders expressed by major industry players such as Canadian Solar, Sunergy and Trina Solar last month. The agreement will see the modules supplied over a three-year period, with 115MW planned for supply in 2010, 155MW in 2011 and 220MW in 2012. Each of the individual agreements has been signed with the option to increase volumes.

Suntech announced at the US China Green Tech Summit that its first US manufacturing facility will be built in the greater Phoenix, Arizona area. The company hopes for the plant to begin production in the third quarter of 2010 with an initial capacity of 30MW. No specific location has been decided upon yet, but the company aims to make its final decision in the coming weeks.

As Pakistan faces an energy shortage, Suntech’s collaboration with the local Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) is well timed. Suntech aims to bring solar power to Pakistan via rural electrification programs, solar-powered pumping systems and telecom projects, and signed a memorandum of understanding with AEDB to work together to achieve these goals.

Independently tested by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), Suntech’s  ‘Pluto’ cell technology has been used in multi-crystalline silicon PV modules to set a new world record in this classification of 15.6% conversion efficiency. The previous record (15.5%) had been set 15 years ago by Sandia National Labs. Suntech’s Pluto cells have a conversion efficiency exceeding 17%. The company also noted that the new world record was set using the framed area, without which Suntech believes it would achieve a conversion efficiency of well over 16%.

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd., a large crystalline silicon PV module manufacturer, is collaborating with Sydney Theatre Company (STC) to install a solar power system using Pluto technology at a capacity of 500kW. Upon completion in 2010, it will be one of the largest rooftop installations in Australia and will reduce STC’s power grid draw by 70%. 

Update July 2nd: Suntech's press office has confirmed the news of a planned 500MW project for Panzhihua, China. The deal is "a non-binding strategic agreement similar to our agreement with the Qinghai government," said our source, and could potentially lead to the Chinese PV market becoming much bigger than expected in the not-too-distant future.