SAN JOSE, Calif., March 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWR), a leading solar technology and energy services provider, today announced the sale of more than 70 megawatts (MW) of cell packages to the Huaxia Concentrated Photovoltaic Power Co., Ltd., joint venture (JV) in Inner Mongolia, China. These packages will be used for the first phase of two SunPower™ C7 Tracker (C7) projects, which includes a 20-MW project in Saihan and a 100-MW project in Wuchuan. Both are located in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia and completion is expected in 2015.
"Today's announcement is a first step in our aggressive efforts to break into the Chinese market," said Tom Werner, SunPower president and CEO. "Working together with our strong local partners, we believe that we can deploy significant volumes of our SunPower C7 Tracker power plants to help serve China's growing need for clean power."
The definitive agreement for the Huaxia Concentrated Photovoltaic Power JV was initially signed in December of 2012, and officially approved and registered in November of 2013. The JV includes SunPower, Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor Co., Ltd., Inner Mongolia Power (Group) Co., Ltd. and Hohhot Jinqiao City Development Company, Ltd. Its focus is to manufacture and deploy SunPower's proprietary C7 concentrator technology in the Chinese market. To date, a 300-MW C7 receiver manufacturing facility has been set up in Jinqiao Development Zone, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, and a 50-MW production line is now in operation.
The C7 combines single-axis tracking technology with rows of parabolic mirrors that reflect light onto SunPower's high efficiency, third-generation Maxeon solar cells with efficiencies of up to 24.5 percent. These mirrors will reduce the number of cells required to generate electricity, lowering the levelized cost of energy when compared to competing technologies. For example, a 400-MW C7 power plant requires less than 70 MW of SunPower cells. Through significant localization of C7 manufacturing and supply chain, and deployment of the C7 for large-scale power plant projects, it is expected that this venture will facilitate the development of a low cost, high volume supply chain and accelerate the cost reduction roadmap of this product.
The capacity of cell packages and power plant projects in this release are described in approximate megawatts on a direct current (dc) basis.
About SunPower
SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) designs, manufactures and delivers the highest efficiency, highest reliability solar panels and systems available today. Residential, business, government and utility customers rely on the company's quarter century of experience and guaranteed performance to provide maximum return on investment throughout the life of the solar system. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., SunPower has offices in North America, Europe, Australia, Africa and Asia. For more information, visit www.sunpower.com.
About Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor
Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (TZS) is a Tianjin-based PRC listed company with a registered capital of RMB 724,244,412. TZS is committed to the semiconductor energy-efficiency industry and the new energy industry, and is an integrated high-tech enterprise with research, production, operation and venture capital functions. Its main products include vertical pulling monocrystalline, zonemelting monocrystalline, polished wafer, semiconductor power devices and rectifiers used in the semiconductor energy-efficiency sector; and monocrystalline silicon used in the new energy sector. These products are widely applied in smart grid transmission, new-energy vehicles, high-speed railways, inverters for wind power, integrated circuits, consumer electronics, aerospace, photovoltaic power, and other areas.
About Inner Mongolia Power Group
IMPC (Group), solely owned by Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is the only provincial-level independent power grid company outside the National Grid and China Southern Grid. IMPC constructs, operates and manages the power grid covering 8 Inner Mongolia cities including Hohhot, serving an area of 720 thousand square kilometers and a population of 13.8 million. At the behest of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, it also manages state owned enterprises including Power Design, Power Science & Development, Power Construction companies.
About Hohhot Jinqiao City Development Company
Located in Jinqiao Development Zone of Hohhot City, Hohhot Jinqiao City Development Company is a state-owned company to invest in and finance the projects related to city infrastructure development and improvement. HJDC was founded on April 2, 2001, with registered capital of RMB 58M.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements regarding: (a) our deploying significant volumes of our SunPower C7 Tracker power plants in China; and (b) developing a low cost, high volume supply chain and accelerating the cost reduction roadmap of this product. These forward-looking statements are based on our current assumptions, expectations and beliefs and involve substantial risks and uncertainties that may cause results, performance or achievement to materially differ from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: (1) competition in the industry and downward pressure on average selling prices; (2) our ability to meet our cost reduction targets; (3) regulatory changes and the availability of economic incentives promoting use of solar energy; (4) challenges inherent in constructing and maintaining large projects; (5) the success of our ongoing research and development efforts and commercialization of new products and services; (6) manufacturing difficulties that could arise; and (7) challenges managing our joint ventures. A detailed discussion of these factors and other risks that affect our business is included in filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from time to time, including our most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, particularly under the heading "Risk Factors." Copies of these filings are available online from the SEC or on the SEC Filings section of our Investor Relations website at investors.sunpower.com. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information currently available to us, and we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events.
SUNPOWER and Maxeon are registered trademark of SunPower Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
SOURCE SunPower Corp.