Solar Cells Info

Frankfurt, July 23, 2007
Source: Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/mergersNews/idUSL2339494520070723

Q-Cells (QCEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) will ramp up its investment in U.S. solar firm Solaria, hiking its stake to 33 percent, to strengthen its position in the fast-growing U.S. solar market, the German solar cell maker said on Monday.  The two companies also agreed on a cell supply contract worth about 2.5 billion euros ($3.46 billion) at today’s prices, with an overall capacity of up to 1.35 gigawatt over the next ten years, the world’s second-largest maker of solar cells said.

“We not only see Solaria as an important partner and customer within our core business areas, but also seek to help develop Solaria’s highly promising approach through our investment,” Q-Cells Chief Executive Anton Millner said in a statement.  The deal will enable Solaria to produce over 2.7 GW of modules using its special cell technology, Solaria said.

The privately held, Silicon Valley-based company secured additional funding worth $50 million, it said. Q-Cells said it would pay more than half and other partners such as India’s Moser Baer (MOSR.BO: Quote, Profile, Research), NGEN and Sigma Partners, the rest.  Q-Cells now owns 33 percent of Solaria, up from 12.39 percent previously, but does not plan to increase its stake further for now. “There are no such plans at the moment,” a Q-Cells spokesman said.  Solaria makes modules that turn sun rays into electricity more efficiently than conventional modules by concentrating the sunlight through plastic lenses onto special solar cells that use less costly silicon.

“Solaria has a high synergetic potential to deliver important cost savings to the current mainstream solar cell applications,” Millner said. Q-Cells will supply the cells for the project.   With Solaria’s technology it would be possible to produce solar modules which use half or even a third of the cell material — and hence less silicon — that conventional modules use, while achieving the same output, Q-Cells said.

Growth in the solar industry is capped by a bottleneck in silicon supply as solar cellmakers compete with the electronics sector for the raw material, but the shortage is expected to ease next year.  Q-Cells is aiming to reach a production capacity at its core business of 516 megawatt by the end of this year, it said.