ECD expands on U.S. East Coast with Mercury deal

Rochester Hills, Mich.-based Energy Conversion Devices (Nasdaq:ENER) said today it secured a multi-year direct supply agreement with New Rochelle, N.Y.-based Mercury Solar Systems, to expand the distribution of ECD's products on the U.S. East Coast.

ECD, which includes subsidiary United Solar Ovonic, makes flexible, thin-film solar laminate products for the building integrated and commercial rooftop markets. Mercury Solar, a subsidiary of Mercury Energy, is an East Coat solar integrator, designing and installing solar electric and solar thermal energy systems for commercial and residential customers.

About 80 percent of ECD's products are currently distributed in Europe, company spokesman Mark Trinske told the Cleantech Group. But ECD is hoping to change that and expand its U.S. presence through deals like today's announcement.

Trinske said the United States hasn't had as good of an incentive structure to grow and support the technology as Europe does, but that's starting to change.

ECD has a handful of East Coast distributors in place today, where Mercury Solar had been buying ECD's products previously, Trinske said.

But through today's agreement, ECD plans to sell its brand of products called Uni-Solar laminates directly to Mercury Solar. ECD said it expects to provide technical training and help in designing future solar photovoltaic systems installed by Mercury Solar. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Mercury Solar intends to purchase about 15 MW of laminates over the unspecified term of the agreement.

Uni-Solar laminates, at less than one pound per square foot, are considered lightweight, non-intrusive and require no rooftop penetration or mounting systems, according to ECD. The company said it has a low installation cost and a low cost per kilowatt hour of energy produced, compared to traditional glass PV panels.

United Solar Ovonic has secured numerous orders for the Uni-Solar technology (see $5.8 million UNI-SOLAR BIPV order from Unimetal in Italy, Uni-Solar lands $15M German order and New $9m Air Force contract for UNI-SOLAR).

In July, ECD also announced plans to buy Los Angeles-based Solar Integrated Technologies for about $16.3 million. The company makes building integrated photovoltaic roofing systems (see Energy Conversion acquires solar tech co. and its debt for $16.3M).

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