LDK Solar has placed a new order with long-term CVD reactor supplier GT Solar, worth $32 million. The reactors will be used in LDK Solar’s manufacturing facilities in Xinyu City, China as it continues to add new capacity to meet market demand. LDK doubled wafer production in 2007, reaching nominal capacity of 400MW. At the beginning of the year, LDK Solar expected to reach a capacity of 800MW in 2008. However, this has been revised upwards at least twice since then and is now expected to reach 1.2GW by the end of 2008. The company has also recently said that it was sold-out through 2009.
“We are pleased to have signed this new agreement with GT Solar, a valued provider with which we have a long-standing relationship,” said Xiaofeng Peng, LDK Solar’s chairman and chief executive officer. “As the demand for solar energy continues to grow, so does our need to increase and accelerate our manufacturing capacity. With GT Solar’s reactor and DSS furnace technologies and expertise, we feel confident that we will be able to meet our rising production goals.”
“During the more than five years that GT Solar has been conducting business in China, we’ve designed manufacturing processes and supplied equipment to some of the country’s largest solar wafer and cell producers, including LDK Solar,” said Tom Zarrella, president and chief executive officer for GT Solar. “We look forward to continuing our work with LDK Solar, and to helping this company further its position as a leader in low cost solar wafer manufacturing.”