The contract was signed while Chinese President Hu Jintao was on an official visit to Slovakia. During his talks with Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic on Thursday, he also made a proposal to improve cooperation between China and Slovakia in relation to infrastructure construction, new energy, agriculture, and environment protection.
Wang Gang, general manager of Yingli Energy, Beijing Branch, told China Daily in a phone interview from Slovakia that Yingli will also supply further PV modules to the Slovakia power plant later this year after it expands its capacity to 20 MW. “It is in line with the company's strategy to develop new markets in East Europe,” he said.
Yingli is indeed speeding up its operations in Eastern Europe. Earlier this month, for example, the company announced that it would be supplying PV modules for a 13 MW power plant in the Czech Republic, which will produce enough electricity to supply more than 3,000 households per annum.
Yingli said in a statement earlier this month that it forecasts that shipments will rise by 70% during the second quarter of 2009, citing progress in government solar incentives in the US and China, improved weather conditions in Europe and “a visible change of industry sentiment” since the Intersolar trade show in Germany last month.
The recent deals brokered by Yingli indicate signs of recovery in the solar market, which has been hit hard this year by credit freezes and drastic price reductions due to an oversupply of solar panels. Other solar panel manufacturers such as the Chinese giant Suntech Power Holdings Co have also reported seeing encouraging signs that the solar market is on the up.
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