Evergreen Solar Announces $100 Million Sales Agreement with S.A.G. Solarstrom AG
Evergreen Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESLR), a manufacturer of solar power products with its proprietary, low-cost String Ribbon(TM) wafer technology, today announced that it has entered into a four-year supply contract with S.A.G. Solarstrom AG (S.A.G.), based in Freiburg, Germany. The agreement calls for Evergreen Solar to ship approximately $100 million of photovoltaic modules to S.A.G. over the next four years.
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S.A.G. (Berlin: SAG) builds and operates solar power stations, and sells the generated energy to corporations and utility companies. S.A.G. plans to use Evergreen Solar's products to help satisfy the growing demand from those organizations. These products will be manufactured at Evergreen Solar's plant in Massachusetts and at EverQ's new 30-megawatt facility in Thalheim, Germany. EverQ is a strategic partnership between Evergreen Solar, Q-Cells AG of Germany and Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (REC) of Norway.
"This agreement with S.A.G. is in line with Evergreen Solar's plan to establish relationships with proven solar power leaders," said Richard M. Feldt, Evergreen Solar's president and chief executive officer. "Like our EverQ partners, S.A.G. has built an outstanding reputation in the marketplace, particularly in Germany. In this environment of surging demand for solar power products, we believe this will be a strong, mutually beneficial relationship for our two companies. The agreement also provides us with an opportunity to jointly seek additional ways to lower total system costs to the end-user."
Uwe Ilgemann, S.A.G.'s CEO, stated, "Evergreen Solar is emerging as a key innovator and manufacturer in the solar power market. We believe they will be a valuable long-term resource for us. We look forward to partnering with them in the years ahead to increase solar power's share of the energy market."
About S.A.G. Solarstrom AG
S.A.G. Solarstrom AG, one of the best-known systems integrators for photovoltaics, is among the pioneers on the international solar energy market. It distributes photovoltaic installations and the corresponding services to both private and corporate clients, using a franchise system with 70 current partners in Germany, as well as partners in Spain and Italy from 2006. S.A.G. Solarstrom AG develops financial products based on photovoltaics which it markets to investors via direct selling. In 2005, the company installed what is currently the largest solar plant worldwide. The group is an international player with several subsidiaries in Spain, Austria and Switzerland.
About Evergreen Solar, Inc.
Evergreen Solar, Inc. develops, manufactures and markets solar power products using proprietary, low-cost manufacturing technologies. The Company's patented crystalline silicon technology, known as String Ribbon, uses significantly less silicon than conventional approaches. Evergreen's products provide reliable and environmentally clean electric power for residential and commercial applications globally. For more information about the Company, please visit www.evergreensolar.com.
Evergreen Solar(R) is a registered trademark and String Ribbon(TM) is a trademark of Evergreen Solar, Inc.
A Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. The Company cautions you that any statements contained in this press release which are not strictly historical statements constitute forward-looking statements. Such statements include, but are not limited to the Company's expectations regarding the anticipated benefits of the S.A.G. relationship; the amount of shipments to S.A.G.; the anticipated benefits of the Company's String Ribbon technology; the Company's plans for the EverQ facility; the Company's expansion strategy; the Company's distribution capabilities; and the Company's position in the solar power market. Such risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the following factors: the Company's business and results of operations could be materially impaired as a result of poor manufacturing or product performance or higher costs attributable to the expansion or operation of manufacturing facilities; the market for solar power products is emerging and rapidly developing, and market demand for solar power products such as the Company's products is uncertain; the Company has limited experience manufacturing large volumes of solar power products on a commercial basis at acceptable costs, which it will need to do in order to be successful; the Company faces intense competition from other companies producing solar power and other distributed energy generation products; the success of EverQ is subject to numerous risks associated with the development of manufacturing facilities in international markets and depends on many factors that are outside of the Company's control, including the availability of government grants and contributions by Q-Cells and REC; the risk that the Company may fail to bring to market new products under development or that any such products may not achieve commercial acceptance; the risk that technological changes in the solar industry could render its solar products uncompetitive or obsolete; the Company sells via a small number of reseller partners, and the Company's relationships with current or prospective marketing or strategic partners may be affected by adverse developments in the Company's business, the partner's business, competitive factors, solar power market conditions, or financial market conditions; the market for products such as the Company's solar power products is heavily influenced by federal, state, local and foreign government regulations and policies, as well as the availability and size of government subsidies and economic incentives, over which the Company has little control; and the Company is susceptible to shortages of specialized silicon that the Company uses in the manufacture of its products. In addition to the foregoing factors, the risk factors identified in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission - including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 10, 2005 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 1, 2005, filed on November 10, 2005 (copies of which may be obtained at the SEC's website at: www.sec.gov) - could impact the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Readers should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. The Company disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any such statements to reflect any change in Company expectations, or in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements may be based, or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.
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