Friday, June 6, 2008

Yingli Green Energy Signs a Sales Contract with EN-NEO

June 05, 2008

BAODING, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (NYSE: YGE) ("Yingli Green Energy" or the "Company"), one of the world's leading vertically integrated photovoltaic ("PV") product manufacturers, today announced that it has entered into a sales contract with EN-NEO NEUE ENERGIEN GmbH ("EN-NEO"), one of the leading specialists in PV energy projects worldwide. Under the terms of the agreement, Yingli Green Energy is expected to supply 9.19 MW of PV modules to EN-NEO from October 2008 to December 2008. In addition, EN-NEO has an option to purchase another 9 MW of PV modules from Yingli Green Energy in 2009. The modules to be supplied will be installed in a solar power plant EN-NEO is constructing in Bad Sobernheim, Germany.

"Our well-recognized products and rich experience in cooperating with leading PV system specialists will provide effective support to EN-NEO in the construction of economical and environmentally friendly PV power plants," said Mr. Liansheng Miao, Chairman and CEO of Yingli Green Energy. "We are expecting further cooperation with EN-NEO in future."

About Yingli Green Energy
Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited is one of the world's leading vertically integrated PV product manufacturers. Through the Company's principal operating subsidiary in China, Baoding Tianwei Yingli New Energy Resources Co., Ltd., Yingli Green Energy designs, manufactures and sells PV modules and designs, assembles, sells and installs PV systems that are connected to an electricity transmission grid or those that operate on a stand-alone basis. With 200 MW of total annual production capacity in each of polysilicon ingots and wafers, PV cells and PV modules, Yingli Green Energy is currently one of the largest manufacturers of PV products in the world as measured by annual production capacity. Additionally, Yingli Green Energy is one of the limited numbers of large-scale PV companies in the world to have adopted vertical integration as its business model. Yingli Green Energy currently plans to gradually expand annual production capacity of polysilicon ingots and wafers, PV cells and PV modules to 400 MW by the end of 2008 and to 600 MW by mid-2009. Yingli Green Energy sells PV modules under its own brand name, Yingli Solar, to PV system integrators and distributors located in various markets around the world, including Germany, Spain, Italy, China and the United States. For more information, please visit www.yinglisolar.com.

China Tianwei plans rights issue for solar projects

SHANGHAI, June 4 (Reuters) - China's Baoding Tianwei Baobian Electric Co Ltd said on Wednesday it plans to issue new stock to shareholders to raise funds for 3.2 billion yuan ($462 million) in solar energy projects and other business requirements.

The company plans to issue up to 210 million additional shares, or up to 1.8 shares for each 10 held, to fund a solar energy panel project, two polysilicon production lines, repayment of bonds and improvement of its cash position.
It added that if the rights issue does not raise enough funds to meet the 3.2 billion yuan requirement, it would secure the remainder from its own funds or bank loans.

It said the offer price for the shares would be determined based on net assets per-share in the most recent results report. The company reported net assets per share of 4.19 yuan in the result for the first quarter.

The company's shares ended at 39.34 yuan on Tuesday. They have risen about 10 percent this year, compared with a one-third drop in Shanghai's benchmark index .SSEC.

Solar power looks into a brighter future

(China Daily)Updated: 2008-06-03 14:39
Michael R. Splinter

The world's largest maker of semiconductor production equipment, Applied Materials, is increasingly honing its focus on solar panels as semiconductor demand wanes.

The company recently announced the largest deal to date in the industry, worth $1.9 billion, in which it would build the world's largest solar-panel manufacturing plant.

After joining the firm five years ago, president and CEO Michael R. Splinter has pushed Applied Materials to become the semiconductor industry's No 1 firm for 17 consecutive years. Splinter discussed the company's growth strategy with China Daily reporter Zhang Qi.

Q: What made Applied Materials decide to switch from focusing on semiconductors to solar power?

A: Applied Materials has a long history of cooperation with China on challenging technological problems.

We were the first company in our industry to establish operations in China back in 1984. Since then, we have been working together to support the growth of the semiconductor industry and the establishment of manufacturing capacity for flat panel displays.

Our flat panel manufacturing systems have helped the industry decrease the cost of flat panel displays by 20 times over the last 10 years.

This is what we must do with solar. We must lower the cost-per-watt of solar power to competitive levels and let market demand grow in proportion. At Applied Materials, this is the focus of our solar efforts, and I'm confident that, together with our customers and partners, we will make tremendous progress in establishing solar infrastructure.

Q: What kind of technologies does Applied Materials use in sunfab thin-film manufacturing?

A: There are different kinds of thin-film technologies. There is Cadmium telluride, which is primarily made by US company First Solar. Copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) is not in production by anybody, but people are trying.
The kind of thin-film technology that Applied Materials has is silicon glass and very thin layers of metal.

With more than $1 billion invested every year in research and development, Applied Materials is a world leader in innovation. And technology we have introduced has already shown promise in boosting the efficiency of solar cells.
Our technology will produce large 5.7-sq-m panels that are unique in the industry and significantly reduce the overall costs of solar power. These ultra-large substrates, sized at 2.2mX2.6m, are four times bigger than today's typical solar panels.

These large panels are much cheaper to install and that's important, because today, half the cost of solar is in the installation of the panels, and we need to set a standard for panel size and installation, and get rid of the non-value-added costs.

At the same time, we have launched a new approach to solar production that combines technology with high-productivity and large-scale manufacturing. Last month, we announced the largest contract in the history of Applied Materials for $1.9 billion to build a GW-scale solar panel factory - the largest in the world - and that will begin to change the economics of the industry.
We believe that GW-scale plants and massive solar generation farms will help bring down the cost of solar dramatically and speed its adoption as an important renewable energy source.

Q: Where does your confidence come from?

A: Confidence comes from your whole life experiences. But my confidence in solar technology comes from the great technology that Applied Materials has applied.

We continue to be the leader in semiconductors and utilize our technology. If you (look at) our history, you can see we utilized the semiconductor technology to get into the flat panel technology, and we used our flat panel to get into the solar.

So, these things are built on each other over a period of time. And we expect to continue to be able to do that, to bring our technology to new markets.

Q: What are your expectations for your solar business in the Chinese market?

A: Last year, the solar panel part was pretty much nothing. This year, it will be between 7 to 10 percent of our whole business (globally).

We think the market for solar panels is very big, around $2.5 to $3 billion in business for us by 2010.

I am quite excited about the renewable energy polices. If you do a single calculation, China has 700 GW in electrical storage capacity. The demand is increasing 10 percent a year, so by 2010, when 15 percent renewable energy (of the total energy supply) is required by China's 11th Five-Year Plan, there needs to be 100 GW. That's really a lot compared with what we have now. We are working with every major solar company in China.

We have manufacturing, engineering and silicon product development for solar products in Xi'an, Shaanxi province.

We just announced we are going to do a number of things for solar there.

Timminco Announces Supply Relationship With Canadian Solar Inc.

TORONTO, ONTARIO, Jun 02, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) ----Timminco Limited ("Timminco") today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Becancour Silicon Inc. ("BSI"), has identified that Canadian Solar Inc. ("CSI") is one of its customers, under the long term supply agreement announced by Timminco on April 4, 2007. BSI and CSI have together achieved certain milestones with respect to delivery, consistency and quality of BSI's solar grade silicon. CSI is expected to purchase up to 5,000 metric tons of solar grade silicon through 2011 at a price substantially less than the current contract prices for polysilicon. BSI has delivered 16 metric tons of solar grade silicon in 2007 and expects to deliver 450-500 metric tons to CSI in 2008.

Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and CEO of CSI commented: "BSI is a leading silicon producer and we are pleased to have collaborated with them on solar grade silicon since early 2007. In making this announcement we have together achieved a technical landmark in the PV industry."

"We are very happy to announce our relationship with CSI as a strategic partner in the development of our solar grade silicon." said Mr. Rene Boisvert, President and CEO of BSI. "We are pleased to have achieved the necessary milestones to permit commercialization by CSI of their use of our product."

ABOUT TIMMINCO
Timminco is a leader in the production and marketing of lightweight metals, specializing in solar grade silicon for the rapidly growing solar photovoltaic energy industry. Using its proprietary technology, Timminco processes metallurgical grade silicon into low cost solar grade silicon for use in the manufacture of solar cells. Timminco also produces silicon metal, magnesium extrusions and other specialty metals for use in a broad range of industrial applications serving the aluminum, chemical, pharmaceutical, electronics and automotive industries.

ABOUT CANADIAN SOLAR INC.
Founded in 2001, CSI is a vertically integrated manufacturer of solar module and customer-designed solar application products serving worldwide customers. CSI is incorporated in Canada and conducts all of its manufacturing operations in China. Backed by years of experience and knowledge in the solar power market and the silicon industry, CSI has become a major global provider of solar power products for a wide range of applications.

Canadian Solar Signs US$500 Million Supply Agreement with Neo Solar Power

HSINCHU, Taiwan and JIANGSU, China, June 2 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Canadian Solar Inc. (CSI; Nasdaq: CSIQ), a global solar module manufacturer, today announced that it signed a five-year supply contract with Neo Solar Power (NSP,3576 TT), a leading manufacturer of high quality solar cells. NSP has been astable supplier to CSI since March, 2007. Under the terms of the new agreement, NSP will supply several hundred megawatts (MW) of solar cells through 2013. The total contract value exceeds US$500 million.

Dr. Quincy Lin, Chairman and CEO of NSP, said, ''We are pleased to extend our existing cooperation by entering into a long term partnership with CSI, an industry leading solar module maker, to support its rapid business expansionin coming years. The confluence of NSP's strength in cell quality and manufacturing efficiency and CSI's solid channel relations with solar system providers, will allow us to deliver an integrated and effective solution in the photovoltaic value chain.''

Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and CEO of CSI, commented, ''This agreement will help us ensure continued growth over the next five years and is testament to our ability to establish and secure relationships with strategic suppliers across the solar value chain. NSP has been an invaluable and high-performing supplier to CSI and will be a key partner for us in the execution of our flexible vertical integration model and balanced supply strategy in the future.''

About Canadian Solar Inc. (Nasdaq: CSIQ)

Founded in 2001, Canadian Solar Inc. (CSI) is a vertically integrated manufacturer of solar cell, solar module and custom-designed solar application products serving customers worldwide. CSI is incorporated in Canada and conducts all of its manufacturing operations in China. Backed by years of experience and knowledge in the solar power market and the silicon industry, CSI has become a major global provider of solar power products for a wide range of applications. For more information, please visit http://www.csisolar.com .

About Neo Solar Power (3576 TT)

Founded in 2005, Neo Solar Power (NSP) specializes in manufacturing of high quality solar cells. Based in Hsinchu Taiwan, NSP currently has Fab 1 in full production with 90 MW capacity and expects its new Fab 2 to launch production in the third quarter of 2008 with an ultimate capacity of 600 MW. Seasoned through a long history in the semiconductor and solar industry, NSP produces cells with high efficiency and minimum power loss. Leveraging core competence on quality, technology and technical services, NSP aims to become a global leader in the photovoltaic industry and to make solar energy a competitive energy source. More information on NSP, please visit http://www.neosolarpower.com/