Evergreen Solar signs two new contracts

MARLBORO, USA: Evergreen Solar Inc., a manufacturer of solar power panels with its proprietary, low-cost String Ribbon wafer technology, has signed two new long-term sales contracts valued at approximately $600 million with United States-based groSolar and German-based Wagner & Co. Solartechnik GmbH. These contracts extend through 2012 and bring the company’s total contractual backlog to approximately $1.7 billion.

The solar panels for these two contracts and the two contracts previously announced in May will be manufactured at the company’s Devens, Massachusetts facility, which will begin panel production in July. These four contracts represent approximately 65 percent of the expected 160MW of annual production capacity at Devens through 2013. Evergreen Solar also has six other customer contracts with a current total backlog of approximately $850 million, which will primarily be supplied by EverQ, its German-based joint venture.

"The four multi-year contracts that we have signed in the last 30 days continue to validate that our String Ribbon technology combined with the features and functionality of our solar panel design, provides a compelling value proposition for our customers," said Richard M. Feldt, Evergreen Solar's chairman, president and chief executive officer. “We continue in discussions with other potential customers as we look to commit up to 75 percent of Devens capacity to long term contracts."