UPDATE 2-Ascent Solar in supply deal with TurtleEnergy

* Signs supply deal with TurtleEnergy

* To supply 67 MW of photovoltaic modules over 5 yrs

* Shares rise as much as 23 percent (Recasts; adds details, analyst comments, updates share movement)

By Adveith Nair

BANGALORE, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Ascent Solar Technologies Inc (ASTI.O) said it signed a contract to supply up to 67 megawatt of photovoltaic modules to TurtleEnergy LLC over a five-year period, sending its shares up as much as 23 percent.

Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov said the contract was "extremely large" for a company of Ascent Solar's scale.

"It is their largest commercial sale ever by a huge margin. We are clearly talking about at least $150 million over the life of the contract. It is a very large order for a company that is still in the development stage."

This is Ascent Solar's second supply agreement in as many days. On Tuesday, the company, which develops thin-film solar modules that convert sunlight into electricity, signed a direct supply agreement for its "premier" modules. [ID:nBNG497436]

Jefferies & Co analyst Paul Clegg said Wednesday's deal was "very important" for Ascent as it was the company's first building integrated supply agreement.

Building integrated photovoltaics, which companies like Ascent and Energy Conversion Devices Inc (ENER.O) make, can be built into the structure of a building.

"The deal that they announced yesterday was really small, only about a million dollars. This one's really different, a very meaningful deal for them," Clegg said.

The analyst said the initial value of the contract could be in the range of $70 million to $100 million, adding that the contract's revenue contribution for 2010 could account for one-third or more of his $36 million revenue estimate for the year.

The company did not disclose financial terms of the transaction.

Ascent Solar is scheduled to begin shipments to Linden, New Jersey-based photovoltaic systems integrator TurtleEnergy from its Thornton, Colorado, manufacturing plant early next year.

Raymond James' Molchanov said the contract would not bring in immediate revenue, since the company was not yet ready to produce in commercial quantities.

"However, starting in the middle of 2010, once production capacity ramps up, there is going to be very visible revenue generation from this contract," he said.

Shares of Ascent Solar rose as much as 23 percent to a high of $8.58, before paring some gains to trade up about 18 percent at $8.25 Wednesday on the Nasdaq.

The stock was among the top percentage gainers Wednesday on Nasdaq. About 800,000 shares changed hands, six times the company's 10-day moving average. (Reporting by Hezron Selvi and Adveith Nair in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy and Anil D'Silva) ((adveith.nair@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: adveith.nair.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))