Solyndra Signs $250M GeckoLogic Deal

Thin-film startup's $250 million deal to sell its panels to GeckoLogic is part of the $1.2 billion in sales contracts Solyndra has inked with customers.

Solyndra, on Thursday said that German solar integrator GeckoLogic has signed a contract to buy about $250 million of is solar panels through 2012.

That contract is included in the approximately $1.2 billion in sales contracts that Fremont, Calif.-based Solyndra announced earlier this month, when it revealed its thin-film technology for the first time (see Solyndra Rolls Out Tube-Shaped Thin Film).

Solyndra claims its panels, made up of tube-shaped copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) films that can be placed on roofs without having to be bolted on, take about a third of the time and half the cost to install than the flat solar panels made by other thin-film manufacturers.

Solyndra's other previously announced customers include Solar Power Inc., with a $325 million contract, and Phoenix Solar, with a contract for €450 million ($546 million).

Solyndra has not disclosed the cost of producing its cells, made at its Fremont headquarters, or its panels, which are assembled in Milpitas, Calif.

Solyndra CEO Chris Gronet said earlier this month that his CIGS cells can convert 12 percent to 14 percent of sunlight to electricity in high-volume production, which he said is better than competing CIGS thin-film technologies.

Gronet also said that Solyndra started shipping panels in "large volumes" to customers in June, but did not disclose how much the company is producing. Solyndra has 15 beta projects up and running globally, the company told Greentech Media earlier this month (see Solyndra Increases Beta Testing).

Solyndra has raised a total of $600 million in equity funding since 2005, and it is planning to build a 450-megawatt manufacturing plant in Fremont at an undisclosed cost (see Solyndra Plans Huge Thin-Film Factory).

Gronet told Greentech Media last week that Solyndra has continued to talk to investors but that the company has enough cash on hand to carry out its plans (see Solyndra Still Raising Cash).

Solyndra has about 500 employees.