Jun 1 2009
Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (NYSE: YGE) ("Yingli Green Energy"), one of the world's leading vertically integrated photovoltaic ("PV") product manufacturers, the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands ("ECN"), a leading solar research center in Europe, and Amtech Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASYS) ("Amtech"), a global supplier of production and automation systems and related supplies for the manufacture of solar cells, today announced a three-party research collaboration agreement to develop next generation high efficiency solar cells.
The joint project under the agreement endeavors to develop and implement high efficiency N-type silicon solar cells, named PANDA, at Yingli Green Energy's pilot production line in Baoding, China. The high efficiency cells will utilize the cell design of ECN, the solar diffusion technology and dry PSG removal expertise of Tempress Systems, Inc., Amtech's solar subsidiary ("Tempress"), and Yingli Green Energy's leading cell process technology. The construction of the pilot production line does not require significant capital expense, as it only makes moderate changes on the current production lines.
"Yingli Green Energy always strives to be at the forefront of the latest technological developments in the PV industry," said Mr. Liansheng Miao, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Yingli Green Energy. "To that end, we are very pleased to be entering into a cooperation that combines our strong commercialization capabilities with the strengths of a global research institution and a leading equipment supplier. We look forward to playing a crucial role in the introduction of the next generation of high efficiency solar cells. PANDA aims at significantly raising the efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells and at commercializing the new technology quickly on our production lines."
"We are very happy that ECN's technology for N-type crystalline silicon solar cells is going to be industrialized in cooperation with these ambitious partners with a long operating history in the PV industry," said Ton Hoff, Chairman of the Board of ECN.
J.S. Whang, President and Chief Executive Officer of Amtech, commented, "We are excited about this joint agreement with leaders in the industry and its potential to contribute to significant improvements in solar cell efficiency and bring solar energy closer to achieving grid parity. PANDA is true validation for our Tempress' in-depth diffusion expertise and our capability for supplying reliable diffusion and automation equipment to the solar industry."