News

As part of Solland Solar Cells’ planned capacity ramps, the crystallinesilicon cell producer has secured a new and extended multi-crystallinesilicon wafer supply deal with Renewable Energy Corp (REC) that runsthrough 2015 and is worth approximately €500 million to the company.The agreement is structured as a take-and-pay contract withpre-determined prices and volumes for the entire contract period.

An existing PV cell customer based in Taiwan has placed a follow-onorder with Amtech Systems worth $3.9 million for diffusion processingsystems. Amtech expects the follow-on order to ship in fiscal 2008.

Dr. Jürgen Dahmer is the newest appointee to the Board of Managementfor SCHOTT, while the company has also announced the extension of thecontract of Professor Udo Ungeheuer (pictured).  Professor Ungeheuer,who holds the post of Chairman of the Board of Management, has had histenure extended for a further five years.

SunPower Corporation has signed a five-year agreement with Jiawei SolarChina Co., Ltd. (Jiawei) to secure a supply of monocrystalline silicon ingots and silicon wafers, beginning in 2008. The deal is expected to enable SunPower to produce the equivalent of 900MW during the agreement period.

Hoku Scientific, Inc. has signed a non-binding term sheet with MerrillLynch for Hoku Materials, Inc., capital requirements for itsunder-construction polysilicon production plant in Pocatello, Idaho.The loan of $185 million is conditional on Hoku Scientific raising afurther $35 million in cash for use in the construction of the plannedpolysilicon plant. The non-binding term sheet will expire on May 31,2008.

Former Executive General Manager of Quality Assurance and Supply Chainfor Kyocera David Hester is stepping into a new Vice Presidential role,effective today.  An employee of Kyocera since 2000, Hester has a B.Sc.degree in industrial engineering from Purdue University and hasachieved Lean Six Sigma “Black Belt” status.

Solarfun Power Holdings has announced the increase in the stake ofownership of the company by Good Energies, raising Good Energies’ stakein Solarfun from 6.3% to 34.7%. Good Energies today signed an agreementto purchase 66,745,638 ordinary shares and 281,011 American DepositoryShares, including 50% of CEO Yonghua Lu’s shares.

China Nuvo Solar Energy has entered into a ‘Collaboration andDevelopment Agreement’ with Pioneer Materials to build, equip, operateand manage the product development, testing and prototype manufacturingof China Nuvo Solar’s novel PV cell technology.

Applied Materials has been named Green Energy Innovator of the Year for its pioneering work on the Applied ‘SunFab’ Thin Film Line, at a gala presenting the 9th Annual Platts Global Energy Awards.

ersol Solar Energy AG has said that another new polysilicon supplycontract with Wacker Chemie AG has been signed that secures 300MWp ofcrystalline solar cell capacity from 2010 onwards and lasts for 9years. The forward-looking move is due to ersol Solar’s expectingpersistent polysilicon supply constraints far beyond current marketexpectations.