China's solar giant Hanergy purchases MiaSole

US thin-film solar panel maker sees strategic partner in Chinese firm

China's largest privately owned clean power generator by output, Hanergy Holding Group Ltd, said on Wednesday it has bought MiaSole, a California producer of thin-film solar panels.

The purchase marks the second overseas acquisition by the company.

As the first overseas transaction between China and the US solar industry so far this year, the deal was described by Hanergy Chairman Li Hejun as a "good Chinese guy" marrying a "daughter" of John Doerr - a reference to the American venture capitalist who invested more than $500 million in MiaSole during its development.

Li did not disclose the exact value of the deal, but said it is about a tenth of the initial $1.2 billion asking price.

He said the company decided to wait a while after getting in touch with MiaSole last year, considering the high price, and the US company later approached Hanergy for cooperation.

Some media reports said the price was $30 million, but Li said this was the money Hanergy agreed to repay to MiaSole's creditors as part of the purchase.

MiaSole's backers invested more than $550 million in the company during the past 10 years and its current market value exceeds $2 billion, according to the company.

Li said capital for the deal came from Hanergy's hydro and wind energy businesses. The company started the business as a hydropower generator and says it owns 6 gigawatts of hydro generating capacity.

"The money is not a problem," said Li. "We will continue to cooperate with other US companies and expand our market share in Europe."

Hanergy will increase MiaSole's factory output to full capacity and retain about 100 of its employees. It also plans to hire additional employees for manufacturing.

The transaction has received regulatory approval from the Chinese and US governments.

On Nov 30, Li said in Beijing that Hanergy had replaced First Solar Inc to become the world's largest maker of thin-film solar modules, with an annual capacity of 3 gigawatts.

MiaSole says it has the world's highest energy efficiency in the manufacture of thin film called CIGS, which stands for the metals copper, indium, gallium and selenide.

The technology makes thin-film solar panels more flexible to use.

John Carrington, CEO of MiaSole, said, "MiaSole has advanced solar technology by developing the highest efficiency and lowest-cost CIGS modules, but we needed to align with a strategic partner in order to deploy our technology across a larger global scale."

Hanergy last year acquired Q-Cells SE's subsidiary Solibro, a German maker of thin-film solar panels. Solibro has developed CIGS technology for more than 25 years.

After the completion of the acquisition, Solibro increased its yearly production capacity to 100 megawatts to supply Hanergy's customers in Europe.

The lower efficiency of the thin-film solar panels compared with polysilicon solar cells has long been an obstacle in the industry.

Thin-film solar cells' energy efficiency and lifespan still have lots of room for improvement compared with polysilicon-manufactured solar panels, Meng Xian'gan, deputy director of the China Renewable Energy Society, told a conference in December.

MiaSole's thin-film solar panel efficiency has reached 15.5 percent, said to be the highest in the world.

Carrington said this efficiency will rise to more than 17 percent within two years, and the production cost will drop to below 50 US cents a watt during this time.

"The long-term target is to reduce the unit cost to 33 cents a watt," he said.