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Oct. 1, 2003 -- Konarka Technologies Inc. has entered into a cooperative agreement with Groupe Electricité de France (EDF).
EDF is a large utility operating a 120,000+ megawatts of generation capacity in Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle-East and Africa, and it serves 45 million customers worldwide.
Working through EDF's Easenergy team based in the Silicon Valley, the companies will collaborate to develop and launch Konarka's polymer photovoltaic products into the global market to provide a source of renewable power in a variety of form factors for commercial, industrial, government and consumer applications.
Konarka's photovoltaic nanotechnology is focused on delivering lightweight, flexible, scalable and manufacturable products. In a fraction of a day, the sun delivers enough energy to supply the world's power needs for a year. Konarka's technology converts sunlight as well as indoor, artificial light into direct current electrical power.
The company uses unique, proprietary low-temperature production methods to put the photovoltaic cells onto flexible, lightweight plastics. Under the terms of the agreement with Konarka, EDF will contribute expertise from its European operations to accelerate the development and roll-out of Konarka's polymer photovoltaic products.
"Konarka's cooperation with the world's largest utility signifies our deep commitment to rapidly transform the company from a developer to a global manufacturer and provider of products," said Dr. Bill Beckenbaugh, President and Chief Executive Officer, Konarka Technologies, Inc. "Our relationship with EDF will serve to accelerate knowledge transfer, technology development and to better position the company to enter the global market, as will Konarka's current partnerships with ChevronTexaco and Eastman Chemical," he added.
"Working through EDF's Easenergy team, we expect the EDF Group will benefit from Konarka's photovoltaic nanotechnology that converts sunlight as well as indoor, artificial light into direct current (DC) electrical power," said Alain Sarrazin, Senior Vice President at EDF.
About Konarka Technologies, Inc.
Konarka Technologies, Inc. is a developer of polymer photovoltaic products that provide a source of renewable power in a variety of form factors for commercial, industrial, government and consumer applications. Konarka's photovoltaic nanotechnology is focused on delivering lightweight, flexible, scalable and manufacturable products. Konarka has a broad portfolio of patents, technology licenses and a technical team that includes Nobel Laureate Professor Alan Heeger (UC Santa Barbara), Dr. Michael Grätzel (Ecole Polytechnic Fédérale de Lausanne) and Dr. N. Serdar Sariciftci (Johannes Kepler University). Konarka is funded by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Zero Stage Capital, Ardesta LLC, NGEN, ChevronTexaco and Eastman Chemical Company. Konarka Technologies is headquartered in Lowell, MA and has subsidiaries in Linz, Austria and Zug, Switzerland. For more information, visit www.konarkatech.com or contact Joe Romano, Partner, HighGround, Inc. at 781-279-1320 x 208 or jromano@highgroundinc.com.
About Electricité de France (EDF)
EDF is a utility which operates a diverse portfolio of 120,000+ megawatts of generation capacity in Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle-East and Africa, and serves over 46 million customers worldwide. Its subsidiary EASENERGY, Inc., located in the Silicon Valley, is designed to detect and evaluate opportunities for the EDF Group in the field of new technologies and services in North America. For more information contact:
Francois-Xavier Rongere, CEO of Easenergy, Inc. at fxrongere@easenergy.com and Didier Gras, Vice President of Easenergy, Inc. at dgras@easenergy.com.
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