Evergreen Solar signs $1B in sales contracts

Marlboro, Mass.-based Evergreen Solar (Nasdaq: ESLR) announced that it has signed two solar panel supply contracts worth a total of $1 billion.

The company said it signed an agreement valued at $750 million with Germany's Ralos Vertriebs for panel deliveries beginning in 2008 and extending through 2013.

Evergreen said a second deal with an undisclosed U.S.-based installer brings the total value of the two contracts to the billion dollar mark.

"We offer our customers a long-term value proposition because our string ribbon technology consumes less than half of the polysilicon as compared to the industry average, which enables us to provide a unique combination of cost and cell conversion efficiency," said Richard Feldt, president and CEO of Evergreen.

"We will enter into selective long-term supply agreements with additional companies that also bring differentiated value to their customers and serve markets that are at the forefront of solar growth."

Evergreen said the solar panels for the two contracts would be manufactured at the company's Devens, Mass., facility.

The company said the new plant would begin panel production in July, with the two contracts representing approximately 35 percent of the expected 160 megawatts of annual production capacity at Devens through 2013.

In addition to these two new contracts, Evergreen said it 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.

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