SCHOTT Solar extends its successful OEM strategy even further

- ICP Solar Canada, Premier Solar India and the Finnish manufacturer of mobile accessoires Iqua added to the well-known list of customers

- OEM thin-film cells from SCHOTT Solar are powerful lightweights in a variety of designs

Alzenau, July 29, 2008 – The number of solar product manufacturers that make use of the thin-film technology from SCHOTT Solar in their products continues to grow. As an OEM partner, SCHOTT Solar is currently signing contracts to deliver its products with leading companies all over the world and, thus, strengthening its market position even further. Only recently, the company reached agreements on long-term partnerships with the Finnish manufacturer of mobile accessoires, Iqua, as well as with ICP Solar Canada and Premier Solar in India. The high quality and flexibility of the cells were said to be the main reasons why these companies decided in favor of the raw modules from SCHOTT Solar. They are extremely thin and light, yet feature high power density and can be cut into essentially any shape. Depending on the application, these cells can be combined in a flexible manner so that they ultimately generate different voltages and currents. This means they fulfill all of the prerequisites for both indoor and outdoor use, in mobile or stationary solar power plant installations, for example.

The Indian manufacturer Premier Solar Systems uses SCHOTT Solar ASI OEM thin-film cells to operate off-grid water pumps, street lights and room lights, for example. The products from ICP Solar Canada, in turn, provide solar power inside mobile homes, on boats, in remotely located houses and in farming. Thanks to this partnership, the Canadian manufacturer is capable of producing substantially lighter, more durable solar power devices than ever before that even provide 25 percent higher output. The Finnish company Iqua uses OEM cells from SCHOTT Solar to manufacture the world’s very first solar-driven headsets and hands-free car kits for the consumer market. Gardena, the gardening tool manufacturer based in Ulm, Germany, is also a SCHOTT Solar customer. Among other things, Gardena relies on thin-film cells to operate solar-driven pumps for ponds and watering computers.

SCHOTT Solar plans to engage in long-term supply agreements with international solar product manufacturers. The advantages of the thin-film technology, including flexible and wide-ranging application possibilities, as well as high product quality and performance, predestine these solar cells for use in securing the power supply far from the grid. In this way, SCHOTT Solar gains access to the huge potential that modern solar technology solutions have to offer.

Number of characters including empty spaces:  2,729

Further information is available under www.schottsolar.de

Press photographs for downloading can be found under www.schott-pictures.net