These long-term strategic Nanosolar partners

Nanosolar reports that it has signed long-term supply agreements for up to one gigawatt of its Utility Panel supply with Belectric of Kolitzheim, Germany; EDF Energies Nouvelles of Paris, France; and Plain Energy of Munich, Germany. Nanosolar, a maker of thin-film CIGS solar cells based in San Jose, California USA, has worked with each of the three companies since 2008. Each of the supply agreements range from a three to six year term. Nanosolar boasts of both its solar cell technology and its proprietary roll-to-roll printing techniques.

These long-term strategic Nanosolar partners, which are large and experienced installers of thin film panels in Europe, will utilize the Nanosolar Utility Panel to expand their solar power plant developments. in total the agreements may account for up to one gigawatt of committed module deliveries for Nanosolar. Nanosolar plans to raise it production capacity to 115MW by the fall of 2011. The company plans to double its production capacity each year after.

"Nanosolar's industrial printing approach to manufacturing its utility-scale panel combined with its lower balance-of-systems costs will allow solar to be cost competitive with fossil fuels," said Bernhard Beck, CEO Belectric. "We look forward to combining Belectric's state-of-the-art, low-cost installation methods with the Nanosolar Utility Panel to further drive down the cost of solar power plants."