Signet Solar has received an €11 million ($14 million) loan guarantee from the Export-Import Bank of the United States to pay for solar panel factory equipment from Applied Materials.

The loan guarantee allows Signet to borrow money from the Bank of America to add equipment to its factory near Dresden, Germany. The five-year loan guarantee includes a $5.2 million financing for installing the equipment, the Ex-Im Bank said.

Signet, founded in 2006, already has received the equipment to make amorphous silicon thin-film panels, the bank said. Signet Solar is based in Menlo Park, Calif., but has a German subsidiary. The company started with a production line that could make 20 megawatts of panels per year. Signet plans to expand the capacity to as much as 130 megawatts by the end of 2009, Signet said last November.

The company started shipping thin-film panels to customers last October, starting with Hannover-based Alfasolar Vertriebsgesellschaft, the company said. Signet’s other customers include Phoenix Solar, Soleg, Goldbeck Solar, SolarMarkt, all of them in Germany. The Ex-Im Bank said Signet also has customers in Spain and Italy.

Signet plans to build its first U.S. factory in New Mexico.

The Ex-Im opened the Office of Renewable Energy and Environmental Exports in 2007 to focus on helping American companies export greentech goods and services. Last week, it announced $61 million in loan guarantees to Seoul-based Gochang Solar Park Co. to buy and install solar panels from SolarWorld Industries American in Hillsboro, Ore.