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Tech stocks - Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Suntech’s Reliathon A Solar Solution That Fits All Utilities

Moving beyond offering only offering solar panels, Suntech America (STP:NYSE) announced today that its new product, Reliathon, will offer a complete solution for utilities, or large companies, that want to harness their own solar power.

At the core of Reliathon’s system is a new 270-watt module with two 36-cell regions that will create better power output on fixed tilt systems in the early morning and late afternoon. Reliathon also employ’s an updated version of Array Technologies Duratrack System that only uses two motors to adjust each panel instead of the previous four.

Suntech is offering pre-agreed, preferential pricing to its business partners Advanced Energy (AEIS:NASDAQ), Array Technologies, Satcon (SATC:NASDAQ), Siemens Industry (SI:NYSE), and SMA America when they sell the Reliathon to their customers.

"Reliathon gives our customers exactly what they have requested: greater power output at lower cost, combined with a simplified development process,” said Steven Chan, Chief Strategy Officer.

Suntech is improving its warranty by offering an industry-leading, 12-year product warrantee and a 25-year peak power warrantee based on annual degradation. The new annual warrantee will reward Reliathon customers with 13.8 percent more power over the 25-years covered.

Reliathon components and modules will be available to ship in Q2 2010 and Suntech is currently using the system in bids for future solar plants.

Overall it’s a smart move for Suntech as they can now can offer a complete solution for companies looking to build solar plants without a minimal cash investment. Considering that cash has been an issue for the company (Suntech conducted a follow-up offering back in May which raised $277 million. In June, the company signed a $50 million convertible loan agreement with the IFC), getting sales help from a few strategic partners could help solve Suntech’s cash concerns.