A-Power Energy (APWR) is becoming quite the one stop shop for green energy solutions in China.  The company is now involved in wind turbines, biofuels, LNG and with today’s announcement of its MOU to purchase EvaTech, thin film solar.  The all cash transaction of $50 million will be funded by government subsidies (about 40 – 45%) and loans.  APWR expects to sign a definitive purchase agreement with EVATECH by next month and the close the transaction by the end of November.  EvaTech had been seeking a strategic buyer during its restructuring process in the courts of Japan.  APWR will keep their R&D centers in Japan but move production of thin film batteries and TCO glass coating to China in order to reduce production costs.

”We are truly excited about the potential of adding EVATECH’s advanced thin-film solar technology to our reservoir of expertise in the design,manufacturing and installation of clean energy systems,” said Mr. Jinxiang Lu,A-Power’s Chairman and CEO. “The timing is fortuitous for alternative energy developers in China. Our central government just last month announced the ‘Golden Sun’ project to subsidize up to 70% of the costs of building solar farms with a total capacity of at least 500MW by 2012, versus the country’s current capacity of 80MW.” Mr. Lu continued, ”EVATECH has more than 20 years of experience in developing thin-film products, and since 2006, it has begun producing production lines for thin-film PV batteries, with dedicated R&D centers in Japan.

This is a very interesting purchase by APWR and will be interesting to follow.  Nice job at Wind4Me for first highlighting this story before it broke.

Shares of APWR are currently trading modestly higher, up about 3%.