Profile: ReneSola Limited (SOL)

ReneSola Ltd. (ReneSola), incorporated on March 17, 2006, is a manufacturer of solar wafers. As of December 31, 2008, ReneSola had 306 monocrystalline furnaces and 64 multicrystalline furnaces installed. As of December 31, 2008, it had annual wafer manufacturing capacity of approximately 645 megawatt, consisting of monocrystalline wafer manufacturing capacity of approximately 325 megawatt and multicrystalline wafer manufacturing capacity of approximately 320 megawatt. It offers monocrystalline wafers and multicrystalline wafers of various sizes and thicknesses. The Company is one of the wafer manufacturers in China capable of slicing wafers with a thickness less than 180 microns. It also offers ingot and wafer processing services to certain customers. In December 2008, ReneSola announced that it has sold its 49% interest in Linzhou Zhongsheng Semiconductor Silicon Material Co., Ltd. In May 2009, it acquired 100% equity interest of Wuxi Jiacheng Solar Energy Technology Co., Ltd (JC Solar).

JC Solar is a cell and module manufacturer located in Yixing, Jiangsu Province, China. JC Solar began cell production in October 2008. JC Solar had an annual cell production capacity of 25 megawatt and an annual module production capacity of 50 megawatt as of May 2009. The Company sells solar wafers primarily to solar cell and module manufacturers globally. Its top customers include MEMC Singapore Ptd Ltd., JA Solar Co., Ltd., Q-Cells AG, Jetion Holding Limited and Suntech Power Co., Ltd. Other customers include Arise Technology Gmbh, Canadian Solar Inc. and Schott Solar AG.

The manufacture of solar wafers can be divided into two steps: ingot production and wafer slicing. To produce monocrystalline ingots, the Company places polysilicon into a quartz crucible in a furnace, where the polysilicon is melted. Then, a thin crystal seed is dipped into the molten silicon to determine the crystal orientation. The seed is rotated and then slowly extracted from the molten silicon to form a single crystal as the molten silicon and crucible cool. Once the single crystals have been grown to pre-determined specifications, they are surface-ground to produce ingots. It has developed a method for producing more ingots in one heating and cooling cycle by adding silicon raw materials during the melting process. As of December 31, 2008, it had a total of 306 monocrystalline furnaces installed.

To produce monocrystalline wafers, monocrystalline ingots are squared by squaring machines after being inspected. Through high-precision cutting techniques, the squared ingots are then sliced into wafers by wire saws using steel wires and silicon carbon powder. After inserting into frames, the wafers are cleaned to remove debris from the previous processes and then dried. Finally, the wafers are inspected before they are packed in boxes and shipped to customers. To produce multicrystalline wafers, multicrystalline ingots are first cut into pre-determined sizes. After a testing process, the multicrystalline ingots are cropped and the usable parts of the ingots are sliced into wafers by wire saws by the same high-precision cutting techniques as used for slicing monocrystalline wafers. After a cleansing and drying process, the wafers are inspected, packed and shipped.

The Company competes with LDK Solar Co., Ltd., Jiangsu Shunda PV-Tech Co., Ltd., Jinggong P-D Shaoxing Solar Energy Technology Co., Ltd., Deutsche Solar AG, Kyocera Corporation and M. SETEK Co. Ltd.