NANJING, China, Dec. 17 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- China Sunergy Co., Ltd. ("China Sunergy" or the "Company") (Nasdaq: CSUN), a specialized solar cell manufacturer based in Nanjing, China, announced today that the Company has achieved very encouraging initial results during commercial production of its selective emitter cells.
From 10th November to 14th December (the "Period"), the Company produced approximately 380,000 pieces of selective emitter cells on one of its six production lines, compared to approximately 36,000 pieces, produced during October. The average daily conversion efficiency rates of the cells produced during the Period were in the range of 17.1% and 17.9% with the average conversion efficiency for the Period being 17.5%. The Company also observed that the peak efficiency reached 18.4%.
Despite the substantial increase in conversion efficiency rates, the Company's incremental costs, that consisted mainly of depreciation and other raw material costs, were marginal for selective emitter cell production over more traditional P-type cell production.
Furthermore, the Company's selective emitter cells have demonstrated lower than expected "choosiness" and "reliance" on wafer quality during production, as mediocre or even low quality wafers can be produced into high efficiency selective emitter cells.
To further increase the daily production quantity on the newly reconfigured selective emitter cell line, the Company is in the process of purchasing ancillary production equipment from local vendors to finalize the debottlenecking initiatives with minimal increase to its overall capital expenditure. The Company expects daily production of selective emitter cells to substantially increase once the debottlenecking exercise is completed around the turn of this year. The company now expects high efficiency cell production output to be over 2 MW from the previously estimated 1.5 MW for the full-year 2007.
In June 2007, the Company placed orders to buy four new solar cell lines. All these new cell lines will be equipped for selective emitter cell production. Once they commence massive commercial production in late July 2008, five out of ten production lines operating at China Sunergy's facilities will be rolling out high efficiency selective emitter cells.
Commenting on the announcement, Dr. Zhao Jianhua, CTO of China Sunergy, said: "The initial efficiency rates achieved by our selective emitter cells, and the low sensitivity these cells demonstrated towards varying wafer quality, are extremely encouraging. This has allowed the R&D team to shift its effort onto other new high efficiency technologies. As the Company steps up its production of these high efficiency cells, and further fine-tunes the production equipment and processing sequences, I expect to see average conversion rates to rise to around 18%."
Commenting further, Dr. Allen Wang, CEO of China Sunergy, said: "Our ability to consistently keep the average daily conversion efficiency rates well above 17% and reach peak rates of 18.4% during large scale commercial production is a considerable achievement. This gives me great confidence that we can leverage our technological advantages to improve margins and reduce our overall reliance on the quality of supply during 2008. Even though we will see a marginal increase to our cost base, this is more than offset by the pricing premium incremental output they command. This will lead to a marked improvement to our gross margin profile over what could be achieved through normal P-type cell production.
"I believe that China Sunergy is one of the very few solar cell companies globally that has not only declared a promising R&D roadmap but also delivered solid execution and commercial successes under it. Our R&D efforts are now focusing on other varieties of high-efficiency cells, as well as ways to further improve the efficiencies we have achieved so far with selective emitter cells.
"Due to the ongoing polysilicon supply tightness and the relatively low overall proportion of high efficiency cells we anticipate producing in the first half of 2008, our blended profitability may still be under some pressure. As we produce a greater proportion of high efficiency cells during the second half of 2008, and potentially see a greater contribution from other new products now being developed, we should start to see upside in our financial performance. Should the supply landscape become more balanced, we believe that our technological leadership will put us in a very favorable position among mid and downstream solar manufacturers."
About China Sunergy Co., Ltd.:
China Sunergy Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq: CSUN) ("China Sunergy") is a leading manufacturer of solar cell products in China as measured by production capacity. China Sunergy manufactures solar cells from silicon wafers utilizing crystalline silicon solar cell technology to convert sunlight directly into electricity through a process known as the photovoltaic effect. China Sunergy sells solar cell products to Chinese and overseas module manufacturers and system integrators, who assemble solar cells into solar modules and solar power systems for use in various markets. For more information please visit http://www.chinasunergy.com .
Safe Harbor Statement
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by such terms as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "estimates," the negative of these terms, or other comparable terminology. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include the effectiveness, profitability, and the marketability of the company's products; the ability of the company to operate as a public company; the period of time for which its current liquidity will enable the company to fund its operations; future shortage or availability of the supply of raw materials; general economic and business conditions; the volatility of the company's operating results and financial condition; the company's ability to attract or retain qualified senior management personnel and research and development staff; and other risks detailed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about the companies and the industry. The company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent occurring events or circumstances, or to changes in its expectations, except as may be required by law. Although the company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward looking statements are reasonable, they cannot assure you that their expectations will turn out to be correct, and investors are cautioned that actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results.
