United Solar Ovonic Announces Agreement With SunEdison To Supply Up To 17MW Of Photovoltaic Laminates
United Solar Ovonic LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Energy Conversion Devices, Inc., announced that it has entered into a supply agreement with Sun Edison LLC to supply up to 17MW of its UNI-SOLAR® solar laminates in calendar year 2008. Under the terms of the agreement, SunEdison will purchase a minimum of 5MW and up to an additional 12MW of UNI-SOLAR laminates for use on large-scale rooftop installations on industrial and commercial buildings principally in the U.S.
"We are pleased to be working with SunEdison, one of North America’s leading solar energy service providers," commented Mark Morelli, President and CEO of ECD. "This is the latest example of the momentum United Solar is building as customers are won over by the extensive benefits of our proven laminates, particularly for rooftop applications like those being targeted by SunEdison."
"The flexibility and lightweight characteristics of United Solar’s laminates enable SunEdison to supply solar services to a broader range of customers, especially to deploy solar on rooftops which often cannot support a heavier load," said Thomas Rainwater, CEO of SunEdison. "SunEdison is ideally positioned to leverage United Solar’s unique thin-film products to deliver solar energy to our customers. Our agreements with United Solar and others help us to meet the needs of our customers to reduce energy costs and carbon footprint by generating sustainable, clean solar power."
UNI-SOLAR laminates are said to offer superior cost-effective solutions for roofing applications because they are lightweight, durable, flexible, can be integrated directly with building materials, and generate more energy in real- world conditions. They are said to be, for example, three to five times lighter than conventional solar modules (which use glass), offering a suitable solution for low-load bearing roof applications. UNI-SOLAR laminates can be installed without any structural changes or penetrations to the roof, and are thus claimed to provide superior wind and seismic load performance compared with conventional solar modules.
