RE: RE: News - Partner - Bosch.........................
I especially love the last line. With Bosch now involved, they would also make a great company to take SET over at some stage, hopefully after it is established at a much greater value.
Bosch is setting the stage with take overs in the last couple of years on the way to becoming the largest solar entity along with one of the largest automotive industries.
They are big on partnerships. They like ownership.............................
TORONTO (Dow Jones)--Sustainable Energy Technologies Ltd. (STG.V) and Bosch Solar have signed a memorandum of understanding to supply Bosch's thin-film-solar panels in Ontario together with Sustainable inverters.
Bosch, a unit of Robert Bosch GmbH (BOS.YY), will set up a facility in southern Ontario to encapsulate Bosch's thin-film panels, Sustainable's chief executive, Robert Bucher, told Dow Jones. The panels will be manufactured abroad, he said.
If the MOU gives way to a full-blown agreement, it will be the first time Bosch Solar's products are sold in North America, Bucher said. It will also mark the introduction of thin-film panels to the Ontario market, he said. "This is a memorandum of understanding, but it's firm unless everything falls apart, but I don't expect that to happen," he said.
Ontario is attracting world-wide interest from green-energy-equipment manufacturers and project developers. That's because the province recently unveiled a feed-in-tariff, or FIT, program that offers generous long-term contracts to developers. However, to be eligible for a FIT contract, developers must build projects using a proscribed amount of goods and services from Ontario. For instance, 50% of goods and services used in a large solar project must originate in Ontario. That rises to 60% in 2011.
Bucher said developers will be able to meet domestic-content requirements by using Bosch panels in conjunction with Sustainable's Paralex solar-product line. He said the Bosch encapsulation facility is expected to reach commercial production by the end of 2010. In the interim, Bosch will supply its German-made panels to Sustainable for use in Ontario, Bucher said. This will allow developers to meet the 50% threshold required in 2010, he said.
Sustainable plans to build a separate facility to produce its SUNERGY inverters, he said. That facility, which is expected to employ 200-300 people in its first year, is expected to be complete in the fall, he said. It will also be based in southern Ontario, he said.
The MOU envisions an exclusive deal between Bosch and Sustainable, Bucher said. If things go well in Ontario, the companies hope to replicate the arrangement in the U.S., he said.
Bosch's thin-film panels will be targeted at the commercial and municipal rooftop market, Bucher said. The companies will market the full-system installation as Paralex Bosch, Bucher said.
Bucher said he believes demand for the Bosch-Sustainable system will be substantial and that, because of Bosch's size and reputation, developers won't have difficulty financing projects. "My viewpoint is that we will not be able to keep up on demand on this thing," he said