GT Solar, GCL-Poly Sign $40M in New Contracts

GT Solar (Nasdaq: SOLR) has signed contracts in excess of $40 million with two wholly owned subsidiaries of China-based GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Limited (3800.HK).

The first agreement, with Jiangsu Zhongneng Polysilicon Technology Development Co., Ltd., is for GT Solar’s Trichlorosilane (TCS) Production Technology Solution.

The second, with Jiangsu GCL Silicon Material Technology Development Co. Ltd., is for GT Solar’s Directional Solidification System (DSS) furnaces and ancillary equipment.

These contracts represent the first purchases of GT Solar equipment and services by GCL-Poly and its subsidiaries. GT Solar’s TCS Production Solution includes all of the technology and basic engineering services required to produce TCS, one of the primary raw materials used to manufacture polysilicon. GT Solar’s DSS furnaces are used to melt polysilicon and grow multi-crystalline ingots, which are utilized to produce solar wafers and, ultimately, solar cells.

“GT Solar’s TCS production solution should help to improve the quality and lower the cost of our polysilicon operations. Their expected timely delivery of the DSS furnaces should help to ensure that our new ingot and wafer production facility can be up-and-running in 2010,” said Mr. Zhu Gong Shan, executive director, chairman and CEO of GCL-Poly.

“Our relationship with GCL-Poly further strengthens our market position in China and reinforces our role as a technology leader. We believe GT Solar’s DSS furnaces are the system of choice for leading PV manufacturers around the world. And, our TCS Production Technology Solution represents another win for this leading technology that should help to significantly lower the production cost of polysilicon,” said Tom Gutierrez, GT Solar’s president and CEO.

GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Limited (www.gcl-poly.com.hk) is China’s largest and one of the world’s leading polysilicon suppliers. Annual polysilicon production capacity of GCL Solar, a subsidiary of the Group, reached 18,000 MT at the end of 2009 and is expected to reach 21,000 MT by the end of 2010. GCL Solar has also started constructing wafer production facilities and targets to achieve 1GW of capacity by mid-2010.