CORRECTED - Solar manufacturer Suniva expands production
(Corrects to show the company makes solar cells not solar panels in paragraph 14)
LOS ANGELES, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Fast-growing start-up solar manufacturer Suniva will not have to curb expansion plans amid a global credit crunch because it has enough orders and more customers are knocking on its door, said Suniva CEO John Baumstark.
"We've been fortunate," said Baumstark in a telephone interview. "We've picked the partners well and not had to cut back. Having versatility and orders already in place has been very good for us."
Suniva was formed in June 2007 and had its first round of investor funding in August 2007. Four months ago, it announced a $300 million deal for monocrystalline silicon wafer supply with REC Group (REC.OL) of Norway.
In August, Suniva announced orders for solar cells to Germany's Solon AG (SOOG.DE) for $500 million through 2012 and for $480 million through 2013 with India's Titan Energy.
Baumstark said he and Suniva executives are negotiating with several other companies in deals that will be announced in the coming months.
"Our mission has been to deliver quality and to deliver on time and be very focused on what is right in front of us and not have to scramble for customers," said Baumstark.
Baumstark said that Atlanta-based Suniva cannot talk seriously about going public in the current business environment in which initial public offerings have dried up.
He said the Suniva's objective has been "to build a great company that is capable of going public," but jokingly added, "in this market today, we're not sure what IPO stands for anymore."
On Tuesday, Suniva announced that is has signed with a German equipment maker, centrotherm photovoltaics AG (CTNG.DE), to outfit a second production line at its Norcross, Georgia plant in suburban Atlanta. By mid-2009 the plant will expand to 96 megawatts of annual solar cell production, up from the 32-MW capacity of the first production line that opened two weeks ago.
A third line will bring the plant to 175-MW annual production by early 2010, Baumstark said. The deals with Titan, Solon and others to come can be met with the Norcross factory, Baumstark said.
Norcross cannot expand beyond 175 MW, he said.
"In early 2009, we will look at the next location. We will consider Georgia. We have been approached by other states and other countries as well."
The company was founded by Georgia Institute of Technology professor and solar researcher and developer Ajeet Rohatgi. Georgia Tech is in Atlanta not far from Suniva's headquarters.
Suniva strives to make high-efficiency, low-cost cells using streamlined manufacturing including screen printing.
Baumstark said Suniva wants to "in a few years" reach total system costs of $1 per watt, but he declined to say what its cost per watt is now.
In another measure of the solar industry, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy tested Suniva's cells at a 20-percent conversion efficiency, meaning that a fifth of the sun's light is turned into electricity by going through its solar cells. That's a record for lower cost screen-printed cells, Baumstark said. (Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Nichola Groom)
