ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. and NEW YORK, April 22, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (ECD) (Nasdaq:ENER), through its wholly owned subsidiary United Solar Ovonic, and ContourGlobal today announced plans to co-develop rooftop solar systems for buildings in Italy owned and operated by Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company S.A. (CCH). Under the arrangement, ContourGlobal will own and operate the systems, which will be built by ECD using its UNI-SOLAR® brand photovoltaic laminates with development resources provided through ECD subsidiary Solar Integrated Technologies. The initial stage of the project, which is expected to be completed during calendar year 2010, will involve approximately 3.4 MW of UNI-SOLAR® laminates at four CCH facilities in Italy. The parties intend to expand their collaboration to include an additional 4 MW on four CCH sites in the near future.
Joseph C. Brandt, ContourGlobal's President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are successfully working with CCH on a number of innovative energy projects as part of its sustainability initiative, and we are pleased now to be collaborating with USO to furnish rooftop solar solutions as an important element toward this goal. The UNI-SOLAR solutions are ideally suited for these projects because they meet both our financial metrics and CCH's requirement for low impact on the rooftop. We expect to quickly complete the first stage of this project and then extend our cooperation with USO to develop additional systems to meet CCH's objectives."
Mark Morelli, ECD's President and CEO, said, "As commercial rooftop solar leaders, we are experienced in designing and delivering dependable solar energy solutions for an entire roof portfolio, like the CCH roofs that we will co-develop with our partner, ContourGlobal. This is another example of how the evolution of our business to target large scale, multi-rooftop projects is gaining traction. Our UNI-SOLAR solutions complement ContourGlobal's existing energy product line, and we are collaborating with ContourGlobal on other projects in Europe, Africa and North America, and hope to do many more installations within the next few years. We look forward to working with them to help CCH meet its corporate sustainability goals, starting with these projects in Italy."
About Energy Conversion Devices
Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. is the leader in building integrated and commercial rooftop photovoltaics, one of the fastest growing segments of the solar power industry. The company manufactures and sells thin-film solar laminates that convert sunlight to energy using proprietary technology. ECD's UNI-SOLAR brand products are unique because of their flexibility, light weight, ease of installation, durability, and real-world efficiency. ECD also pioneers other alternative technologies, including a new type of nonvolatile digital memory technology that is significantly faster, less expensive, and ideal for use in a variety of applications including cell phones, digital cameras and personal computers. For more information, please visit www.energyconversiondevices.com.
About ContourGlobal
ContourGlobal is a power and energy operating and development company headquartered in New York with approximately 900 employees worldwide and over 1,300 MW of capacity in operation, under construction, or in active development in a diverse set of markets including the United States, the European Union, Brazil, Colombia, Togo, Rwanda, Nigeria and Ukraine. The Company develops and operates electric and combined heat and power businesses around the world for both governments and multinational companies. ContourGlobal focuses both upon high-growth, under-served markets and innovative niches within developed markets – such as renewable energy and combined heat and power. For more information please visit ContourGlobal on the Web at http://www.contourglobal.com/
This release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning our plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events, future net sales or performance, capital expenditures, financing needs, plans or intentions relating to expansions, business trends and other information that is not historical information. All forward-looking statements are based upon information available to us on the date of this release and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of our control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Risks that could cause such results to differ include: our ability to successfully integrate the acquisition of Solar Integrated Technologies; our ability to maintain our customer relationships; the worldwide demand for electricity and the market for solar energy; the supply and price of components and raw materials for our products; and our customers' ability to access the capital needed to finance the purchase of our products. The risk factors identified in the ECD filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, could impact any forward-looking statements contained in this release.