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ARISE Technologies PV Cell Plant Achieves Site Acceptance Test on Line 2(Canada Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) WATERLOO, ON, July 9 /CNW/ - ARISE Technologies Corporation (TSX: APV and Frankfurt: A3T), which is dedicated to becoming a leader in high-performance, high quality, cost-effective solar technology, today announced that its photovoltaic (PV) cell manufacturing plant in Bischofswerda, Germany has completed on schedule the Site Acceptance Tests (SAT) for Line 2. "We have produced more than 100,000 PV cells on Line 2 during the commissioning and SAT process," said vice-president and general manager of ARISE Technologies Germany, Sjouke Zijlstra. "Line 2 is designed to produce 2 and 3 busbar mono-crystalline PV cells. We expect that the PV cells produced on Line 2 will achieve efficiencies of up to 18% once the line is fully optimized. Current efficiencies of Line 2 are at our initial target of up to 17.0%. "We have started to ship cells to customers for evaluation. Once this is successfully completed, ARISE expects to begin ramping up commercial production at a rate that will satisfy the demand from our customers. The experience that we gained in optimizing Line 1 over the last year and the significant increase in our yield to above typical industry rates will no doubt be helpful to us as we increase our output on Line 2," said Mr. Zijlstra. "Our inline process uses significantly fewer production people and faster cycle-time compared with the more typical batch process. The line was delivered on-time and on-budget by our turnkey equipment supplier, OTB Solar B.V. of Eindhoven, the Netherlands. We are very pleased with our progress on both our Line 1 and now Line 2 operations, and congratulate all who contributed to these achievements. It requires a high level of teamwork and dedication to meet targets such as these in a relatively short timeframe," Mr. Zijlstra said. "The combination of Line 1 and Line 2 provides us with the ability to ship more than 80MW of PV cells per year," said ARISE's chairman and chief executive officer, Vern Heinrichs. "We now have the flexibility to meet the requirements of our customers with both high-quality multi-crystalline and mono-crystalline products. We congratulate all of our ARISE Germany team, and all our partners and suppliers." About ARISE Technologies ARISE Technologies Corporation, based in Waterloo, Ontario, is dedicated to becoming a leader in high-performance, cost-effective solar technology. The company operates through three divisions. The PV Cell Division manufactures PV (photovoltaic) cells at its first manufacturing plant opened in April 2008 in Bischofswerda, Germany. The division is developing proprietary technology with a target of achieving a step-by-step progression to a high-efficiency level of greater than 20 percent. The PV Silicon Division is using a proprietary method to produce silicon at 7N+ high-purity (99.99999 percent) for PV applications, based on a simplified chemical vapour deposition process. The division is focusing on scaling up its process to provide ARISE with control over its supply, costs, and quality. The PV Systems Division provides complete turnkey PV solutions for solar farms and rooftop installations under the Ontario Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program. The company's shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol APV and on the Frankfurt Open Market Exchange under the symbol A3T. Additional information is available at www.arisetech.com and www.sedar.com. About OTB OTB Solar B.V. is a high tech supplier of solar cell production technology. The Company's product portfolio currently consists of fully automated in-line turnkey production solutions, high throughput PECVD modules with a small footprint and a high accuracy screen printer. Besides this, OTB Solar is developing novel Ink Jet Printing solutions towards market introduction. OTB Solar builds on a 20 year long successful equipment development track record. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this news release may be considered to be forward-looking. Such statements are based on management's current expectations, estimations, and assumptions based on experience, trends, and other factors that are subject to the significant risks and uncertainties described in our regulatory filings. Please refer to these. Such risks and uncertainties may include, but are not limited to, the effects of general economic conditions, changing foreign exchange rates, actions by government authorities, uncertainties associated with legal proceedings and negotiations, industry supply levels, competitive pricing pressures and misjudgments in the course of preparing forward-looking statements. ARISE assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. %SEDAR: 00017494E |