Greentech Media

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE:STP) , one of the world's leading manufacturers of photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, today announced it has signed new supply agreements with GCL Silicon Technology Holdings Inc ("GCL Silicon"). Under the terms of the supply agreements, GCL Silicon will supply Suntech with 9,420 MT of polysilicon and 1.1 GW of silicon wafers from 2008 to 2012.

"These agreements with GCL Silicon will greatly strengthen our silicon pipeline and support our capacity and production expansion over the next five years," said Dr. Zhengrong Shi. "With steep declining cost curves, these agreements are in line with our strategy to quickly reach grid parity and extend our position as a leading global provider of solar products." With the addition of these agreements, Suntech has now secured approximately 1GW of silicon for 2009.

Hunter Jiang, President of GCL Silicon, said, "GCL Silicon is pleased to become a polysilicon and wafer supplier to Suntech. We view Suntech as an important strategic partner and a leading solar cell and module manufacturer. We look forward to developing a close relationship with them and are committed to expanding our polysilicon and wafer production capacity to meet the growing demands of customers such as Suntech."

Suntech recently signed over 200MW of fixed price, fixed volume sales contracts for 2009 and targets to finalize approximately 500MW of additional sales contracts by the end of September 2008. Dr. Shi added, "The demand for solar energy has continually exceeded expectations and we are confident that this trend will continue as more and more people recognize the benefits of this clean and renewable energy."