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Print Edition StoriesFriday, July 31, 2009
Evergreen Solar pins down deal for China plant
By Mass High Tech Staff
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Solar power technology company Evergreen Solar Inc. has put the finishing touches on deals with Jiawei Solarchina Co. Ltd., and the government of Wuhan province’s Hubei Science & Technology Investment Co. Ltd. to build a manufacturing plant in the city of Jiawei, China.
The deal calls for Marlborough-based Evergreen Solar (Nasdaq: ESLR) to invest $17 million in cash and equipment in the Wuhan plant, which will use Evergreen’s Quad furnaces to make its proprietary String Ribbon wafers. In turn, HSTIC will provide Evergreen Solar a $33 million loan at 7.5 percent, which Evergreen Solar must repay no later than July 2014. Jiawei will make a similar investment for its solar cell and solar panel operations with the support of HSTIC, and Jiawei will convert the String Ribbon wafers into Evergreen Solar-branded panels on a contract manufacturing basis.
Out of the gate, the new plant will have a capacity of approximately 100 megawatts worth of solar cells per year. Factory construction has begun and the plant should be producing solar cells by the spring of 2010, according to officials. By 2012, Evergreen and its partners intend to have the plant running at a capacity to produce approximately 500 megawatts per year. According to Richard M. Feldt, chairman, president and CEO of Evergreen, this plant will help the company reach its goal of producing panels made with its String Ribbon solar tech at a cost to consumer of $1 per watt by no later than 2012.
In May, Evergreen announced it had executed on a $60 million common stock offering to help pay for the Wuhan manufacturing facility. Last July, the company opened a manufacturing plant in Devens.
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