4. Companies in the news

4.1 Corporate news

RWE Solutions AG, Frankfurt/Main, and Schott Glas, Mainz, announced that they will bring together all their activities in the area of photovoltaics into a joint undertaking. The new RWE Schott Solar GmbH, Alzenau, will unite RWE Solar GmbH, Alzenau, its subsidiary ASE Americas Inc., Billerica/Boston, and the Schott Applied Power Corporation, Rocklin (USA). Schott will receive business parity in the joint venture. The joint venture aims to bring together the technological strengths of RWE Solar with the materials research, production know-how and global span of Schott. The joint venture will include development and production of crystalline technologies (wafer, cells and modules) and thin film production as well as the worldwide marketing of solar systems.

RWE Solar, a subsidiary of energy company RWE, employs 550 people. Sales for the fiscal year ending Jun 30 were 96 million euros ($84 million). Schott's U.S. subsidiary, Schott Applied Power Corporation, which will be folded into the mix, employs 75 people and had sales of 20 million euros ($18 million) last year. Shell Renewables announced in April the conclusion of the acquisition of all the shares held by Siemens AG and E.ON Energie AG in the former solar joint venture Siemens and Shell Solar GmBH. Regulatory approval for closing the transaction had already been received.

Shell Solar, which is now the fourth largest PV company in the world, employs around 1100 people. It is headquartered in Amsterdam and has PV manufacturing facilities with a total yearly capacity of some 60MW of solar panels including:

· Ingot growing and wafering in Vancouver, Washington, USA
· Monocrystalline cells and modules in Camarillo, California, USA
· Multicrystalline cells and modules in Helmond, the Netherlands, and multi crystalline cells at its factory in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, where a second cell production line is being planned and will become operational in 2003.

Shell Solar plans to focus on developing PV solutions for two distinct market segments: · Grid-Connected Solar Systems: starting from 400 Watt systems to 1 Megawatt and above, depending on individual projects.

This activity covers installation, maintenance and financing in areas where an electricity network is present.

· Off-Grid Solar Electrification: bringing solar PV to end-users in remote areas, and solar powered solutions for remote industrial applications. This includes training, maintenance and all other after-sales activities.

Meanwhile, Siemens (Shell) Solar and Powerlight Corporation have formed a strategic alliance to manufacture the PowerGuard System in Los Angeles, California. Under the new agreement, Siemens Solar and PowerLight have established a specialized manufacturing line at a Siemens Solar's module manufacturing facility in Chatsworth, California. The line is capable of manufacturing up to 6 Megawatts (and can be expanded to 15-20 Megawatts) of solar electric roof tiles per year, primarily for use in Los Angeles' commercial, industrial, and government facilities.

The PowerGuard® roof tiles will incorporate Siemens' high efficiency single crystal silicon cells.

Sharp Corporation announced in May 2002 its entry into United States market. This follows the emergence of the United States as the latest country, after Japan and Germany, to establish a material solar market based upon grid-tied applications.

The Huntington Beach, California base, already a major distribution center for Sharp in the United States, will have responsibility for both the North and South American PV markets. Initial market focus will be on the United States, however. Sharp expects to achieve a double-digit share of the market within 12 months of operation. This equates to around 5 Megawatts of product.

Sharp marketed over 70 Megawatts of PV products worldwide in 2001 and estimates that it has a market share approaching 45% in Japan and 19% worldwide. While most PV manufacturers in the US market have seen their largest grid-tied demand come from large commercial projects, it is clear that Sharp will also bring a greater emphasis on residential applications. This is a characteristic of the Japanese market, the biggest in the world.

Sharp will initially market five solar module types: 80 Watt, 123 Watt, 125 Watt, 160 Watt and 165 Watt.

Meanwhile, in Japan, Sharp has announced that it will increase the number of workers at its solar cell division by 20 percent and aims to boost revenue there by 55% to 49 billion yen in the current financial year to Mar 2003, when production capacity is slated to be 200 MW. SolarWorld AG announced that it had secured the remaining minority shareholding in Gällivare Photovoltaik AB (GPV), the Swedish solar module manufacturer.

SolarWorld thereby increased its share from 96.3% to 100%. The solar module manufacturer will now be fully integrated into SolarWorld. SolarWorld purchased 25% of GPV from BP Solar in September last year.

GPV has been responsible for the Scandinavian business of SolarWorld since Jan 1, 2002. SolarWorld expects annual turnover to grow by 25 percent this year and it plans a share issue to fund an increase in production capacity. The additional capital will be used in the construction and expansion of its integrated Deutsche Solar factory in Freiberg, Saxony.

Deutsche Solar AG has entered into new long-term agreements on the supply of solar silicon wafers with the international solar cell industry. The contracts are all typically in excess of one-year duration and are mostly for multicrystalline wafers. Contract partners of Deutsche Solar are said to include, with few exceptions, all the leading solar cell manufacturers worldwide.

Sunways AG, the German manufacturer of multi-crystalline silicon solar cells, entered two new agreements for cell supply in 2002.

The Swedish module assembler Sun Peak AB will purchase cells with a value of 4.4 million euros by 2004. Approximately two-thirds of these cells will be delivered in 2002. Phönix SonnenStrom AG secured 6 Megawatts of PV module supplies through agreements that will guarantee secure supplies at attractive prices 2002. The product has been secured from Siemens & Shell Solar, RWE Solar (formerly ASE) and Eurosolare. Phönix SonnenStrom was also awarded EU contracts worth 15.7 million euro this quarter.

Among other activities, seven project partners will be installing 1.15 MW of PV. Phönix SonnenStrom AG has also acquired 100% of Sol AG, a solar project development company also based in Sulzemoos, near Munich. Sol AG, formed in October 1998, has grown its business by creating power projects that utilize the security of solar electricity sales under the terms of the German Renewable Energy Act. They proactively seek opportunities for the installation of large solar systems and bring together investors to fund the projects. The company has completed around ten projects in the last two years, all in the range of twenty to fifty kilowatts.

S.A.G. Solarstrom is taking over the Sunlive Solar franchise network of installers. It will give SAG Solarstrom a national installer network and the ability to offer its product range of residential systems and power plants for communities and companies to a broader market. The company has also announced a new solar energy investment venture called One World - One Energy AG. The purpose of One World - One Energy AG is to provide a financing vehicle for the worldwide development of renewable energy, and in particular, solar energy.

The conditions for investments by One World - One Energy are securing a planned minimum net yield of 8%, establishing plants in politically stable locations and including a minimum component of 50% solar energy. It is anticipated that the yield passed on to investors will be 6%. The founders of One World - One Energy AG, S.A.G. Solarstrom and Powerlight Corporation, will each put in 50,000 euros of initial capital. Swiss Remaco Merger AG will act as Investment Manager and is also on the Supervisory Board.

One World - One Energy AG plans to increase its capital this summer. The goal is to secure 20 million euros of capital in June 2002, which is expected to be placed mainly in German speaking countries. The business model is based among other things upon a study by the Deutschen Bank last year, which points out that future developed world markets for renewable energy can be created by innovative financing approaches. However, the joint venture does not rule out consideration of developing world locations too.

The initial focus, though, will be in OECD countries and the first projects are expected to be in Germany and United States. A project with Afrisol in Morocco is also expected to be under early consideration.

Solon AG's 2001 module production rose steadily from 703 kW in the first quarter to 1.426 MW in the fourth quarter, achieving an annual production output of 4.2 MW. Expansion of capacity to 20 MW by end of 2002 is underway and is hoped to position the company to achieve its 2002 goal of more than 10 MW of module production. Having posted a loss of around 6.1 million euros last year, Solon AG expects to be back in the black in 2002.

Solar Fabrik, a large privately owned solar module producer in Germany, is converting to a publicly listed company to enable it to raise capital to fund expansion. Its module production increased to 6.1 MW in 2001 (from 4.6 MW in 2000), an increase of 45%. Sales revenues climbed to 29 million euros from 20 million euros the previous year. The company placed two orders for solar cells this quarter. The first order is with US manufacturer Astropower for 5 Megawatts and the second order is with RWE Solutions GmbH for 4.5 Megawatts.

Thai Photovoltaics Ltd. (TPV) recently opened Phase II of its direct private equity placement in which the company intends to sell an additional thirty percent of its equity for US$5,064,000.

In the USA, EcoEnergies announced a Distribution Agreement with PowerLight to furnish PowerGuard solar electric roof top systems. Last year, EcoEnergies completed a 220 kilowatt installation for PowerLight near Fountain Valley in Southern California, and is currently completing a project near San Jose. AstroPower, Inc, announced that its Board of Directors approved a three-for-two split of its common stock to be effected in the form of a 50% stock dividend.

GT Equipment Technologies, Inc, corporate parent of GT Solar, a supplier of solar photovoltaic manufacturing systems, has secured investment capital of $5 million from the Energy Fund of RBC Capital Partners, the private equity group of Royal Bank of Canada.

Global Solar, which is starting to manufacture copper indium diselenide thin-film photovoltaic cells, expects to have revenues of $14 million this year as production ramps up.