Soitec Receives Regulatory Approval of Power Purchase Agreements Totaling 155 Megawatts for California Projects

Soitec Receives Regulatory Approval of Power Purchase Agreements Totaling 155 Megawatts for California Projects

Announcement Represents Significant Step Forward in Soitec's Expansion Plans and Strategy in the United States

BERNIN, France, November 11, 2011/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --

    Soitec (Euronext), a world leader in generating and manufacturing
revolutionary semiconductor materials for the electronics and energy
industries, today announced that its subsidiary, Soitec Solar Development,
LLC, received the approval of five of its power purchase agreements with San
Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) from the California Public Utilities
Commission (CPUC). These five projects represent a combined capacity of 155
megawatts (MW) of solar energy with electricity generated at solar power
plant sites in San Diego County that will use Soitec's Concentrix(TM)
concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) technology. Additionally, the CPUC approved
an option agreement for the right, but not the obligation, for SDG&E to
purchase additional capacity from Soitec Solar Development, LLC. This
announcement represents a significant step forward in Soitec's expansion
plans and strategy in the United States.

    The CPV modules, as previously announced, will be manufactured in a new
Soitec factory planned for the San Diego area. The new manufacturing
facility will use new Concentrix fifth generation technology to supply the
projects, which provides a market-leading module efficiency that exceeds 30%
(or 2 to 3 times the efficiency of conventional PV technology.) CPV
technology converts sunlight directly into "clean" electricity via
concentrator optics and high-efficiency solar cells offering the best design
for use in sunny regions, environmentally-friendly, and delivering low-cost,
reliable, solar generated electricity. Additionally, CPV technology requires
no water for ongoing operations, a crucial consideration for the
water-constrained San Diego and Imperial Counties.

    At full capacity, the San Diego manufacturing facility will generate up
to 450 direct jobs and more than 1,000 indirect jobs within San Diego
County. The factory location is expected to be announced before the end of
the year.

    About Soitec

    Soitec [http://www.soitec.com ] is an international manufacturing
company, a world leader in generating and manufacturing revolutionary
semiconductor materials at the frontier of the most exciting energy and
electronic challenges. Soitec's products include substrates for
microelectronics (most notably SOI : Silicon-on-Insulator) and concentrating
photovoltaic systems (CPV). The company's core technologies are Smart
Cut(TM), Smart Stacking(TM) and Concentrix(TM), as well as expertise in
epitaxy. Applications include consumer and mobile electronics,
microelectronics-driven IT, telecommunications, automotive electronics,
lighting products and solar power plants for large-scale utilities. Soitec
has manufacturing plants and R&D centers in France, Singapore, Germany, and
the United States. For more information, visit: http://www.soitec.com.

   
    International Media Contact
    Camille Darnaud-Dufour
    +33(0)6-79-49-51-43
    (any time zone)
    camille.darnaud-dufour@soitec.com

    Investor Relations
    Olivier Brice
    +33(0)4-76-92-93-80
    olivier.brice@soitec.com

    French Media Contact
    Marie-Caroline Saro
    H&B Communication
    +33(0)1-58-18-32-44
    mc.saro@hbcommunication.fr

Source: Soitec

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