US-based fabless PV module supplier, Andalay Solar has secured a 50MW annual sub-contracting manufacturing partnership with Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI).
Andalay Solar, micro-cap PV module supplier, which had previously struck deals for its patented ‘plug and play’ frame technology that reduces BOS and installation times, had used PV manufacturers such as Suntech Power Holdings to build its unique modules.
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Ever since the US imposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese and later Taiwanese solar cells, Andalay Solar needed an alternative source of supply for its in-house design.
Andalay Solar said that the new Hyundai-branded TG-Series modules would start shipping later in the first quarter of 2015 and were currently undergoing UL certification. However, a decision on whether the modules would be monocrystalline or multicrystalline-based had yet to be made.
“The addition of Hyundai as an Andalay frame technology partner will help us expand our sales in the rapidly growing U.S. residential solar market,” commented Andalay Solar's president and CEO, Steven Chan. “The Hyundai brand is well known to end consumers and the company's financial strength as an over Us$50 billion revenue company is also acknowledged by solar leasing companies.”
Andalay Solar is hoping that the manufacturing deal with HHI will attract more installers to use its frame technology, which will also mean improved competitiveness due to the US duties in Chinese and Taiwanese products.
The company noted it had secured around 1MW of pre-orders for the HHI modules and has issued a recent prospectus to sell 85 million shares to raise around US$5 million. The company has been loss making for several years.
