Evergreen Solar Ships 31.9 Megawatts

Evergreen Solar, Inc. (ESLR), a manufacturer of String Ribbon™ solar power products with its proprietary, low-cost silicon wafer technology, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2009.

Key accomplishments during the quarter were:

Shipped 31.9 MW from our Devens facility at an average selling price of $2.32 per watt;
Improved product gross margins to 11.9% from 7.1% for the third quarter of 2009;
Reduced total manufacturing cost to $2.05 per watt, down 8.5% from $2.24 per watt for the third quarter of 2009;
Reduced wafer manufacturing cost to approximately $0.69 per watt from $0.75 per watt in the third quarter of 2009;
Generated $16.9 million of cash from operations, up from $11.2 million in the third quarter.
“Over two years ago, we established a cost target for our Devens facility of about two dollars per watt. We are pleased to have effectively achieved this cost target during the fourth quarter,” stated Richard M. Feldt, Chairman, CEO and President. “Our proven track record of manufacturing excellence is even more critical as we will relentlessly pursue additional operational efficiencies, further reduce our silicon and other materials costs and make progress on our technology roadmap to further reduce our costs at Devens to about $1.50 per watt in 2011 as we transition panel assembly to China.”

“Our China expansion remains on track,” added Mr. Feldt. “We have a strong Chinese management team and we are hiring experienced engineers and other support staff needed for the initial 100 megawatt facility. Equipment has been ordered, and we should be in a good position to ship our first product by this summer.”

Labels: Earnings, ESLR, Evergreen Solar, Solar Stocks

posted by Ertai at 9:17 AM