Ascent Solar 150MW manufacturing facility project advances to due diligence review phase with US Department of Energy

THORNTON, USA: Ascent Solar Technologies Inc., a developer of flexible thin-film solar modules, announced today that it has been notified by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Guarantee Programs Office (LGPO) that Ascent’s loan guarantee application for its proposed 150MW FAB3 project has been selected to advance to the LGPO’s due diligence phase of review.

The project has an approximate value of $375 million, $275 million of which would be under the loan guarantee program.

“We are pleased that the Department of Energy has selected us for advancement of our loan guarantee application for our FAB3 manufacturing facility to the due diligence stage,” stated Dr. Farhad Moghadam, president and CEO of Ascent Solar. “FAB3 will bring together our unique approach to manufacturing flexible lightweight modules with the capacity to address the potentially large BIPV and BAPV markets worldwide.”

With the selection for due diligence, the LGPO is initiating discussions with Ascent regarding detailed due diligence, the negotiation of terms and conditions of a potential loan guarantee, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance and all other issues necessary for the LGPO to consider the issuance of a conditional commitment and, potentially, a loan guarantee for the FAB3 Project.

Ascent’s FAB3 project contemplates the construction of a new 150MW annual nameplate capacity manufacturing facility for production of Ascent’s flexible, monolithically integrated thin-film copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) photovoltaic modules. FAB3 will leverage technology advances from Ascent’s existing manufacturing facilities and will focus on large-volume markets such as building applied PV (BAPV) and building integrated PV (BIPV) applications.

The LGPO’s advancement of Ascent’s loan guarantee application to the due diligence review stage is not an assurance that the FAB3 project will be offered a term sheet or approved for a conditional commitment by LGPO. The due diligence process may be terminated by the DOE at any time if it is determined that the project is unlikely to meet LGPO's requirements, which include statutory and regulatory requirements and DOE's policies, procedures and financial requirements.

In order to qualify for appropriated credit subsidy under Section 1705 of Title XVII, FAB3 will be required to commence construction prior to financial closing, which financial closing must occur on or before September 30, 2011. Selection of the FAB3 project for due diligence review is no assurance that the review process can be completed in that timeframe.