Suntech Power, the Chinese solar energy company, has signed a multi-year contract to supply its photovoltaic panels to SunEdison, the largest solar energy company in the US
The contract could be worth from $50m to $90m, according to NYSE-listed Suntech, and it reflects the brightening prospects for solar-generated electricity in the US, where a number of states have recently adopted measures to promote renewable energy.
To capitalise on these new opportunities in the US, Suntech Power recently set up a wholly-owned subsidiary, Suntech America.
It has also created a subsidiary in China, Shenzhen Suntech Power, to promote grid integration projects for solar-generated electricity in southern China.
While the cost of generating electricity from solar powers is reducing, it suffers from the obvious problem that when the sun stops shining, the electricity stops flowing. For this reason, solar energy has traditionally found most support in off-grid applications.
The big challenge in trying to integrate solar energy and other renewable sources into national grids is one of finding a way to manage the inherent variability of such sources.
Suntech was founded in 2001 and claims to be one of the world's ten largest manufacturers of photovoltaic cells.
