Japanese a-Si thin film equipment supplier acquired by China’s A-Power Energy

Wind turbine manufacturer A-Power Energy Generation Systems has acquired struggling a-Si thin film equipment manufacturer, Evatech Co for US$49.9 million. A-Power plans to move the Kyoto, Japan based equipment suppliers operations to China and produce thin film modules for the building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) market in China. The transaction is expected to close by the end of November 2009.

“The Evatech acquisition is an essential part of A-Power’s strategic vision to be an all-around, diversified cleantech solution provider in China,” said Mr. Jinxiang Lu, Chairman and CEO of A-Power. “Growing out of our core DG business, we are establishing a foothold and gaining traction in various areas such as wind, and now solar. It is important to understand that all of these cleantech forms receive strong, committed support from the Chinese government. In terms of solar, we plan to use EVATECH’s low-cost and high-efficiency a-Si thin-film technology to produce PV curtain glass walls and take advantage of China’s RMB 20 per watt subsidy for the building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) projects. As part of the plan, we expect to move EVATECH’s manufacturing facility to Shenyang by the end of the year and start production and co- marketing of our PV products with a local construction group for Chinese customers sometime next year. We expect EVATECH to begin revenue contribution in late 2010.”