Top 5 Turnkey

In this rapidly evolving market, Oerlikon Solar led the field
by a significant margin for the second year in a row.

VLSI Research analyst, Andrew Thomas,
commented “Oerlikon was first to market with a large scale turnkey solution for
silicon thin film on glass technology and they definitely benefitted in 2008 from
the first mover advantage.”

Despite the current challenging market situation Oerlikon
continues to announce new contracts and is expected to profit further as
existing customers seek to upgrade to Oerlikon's tandem junction technology and
to expand manufacturing capacity in the future.

Centrotherm moved up one position into second place this
year helped by the acquisition of GP Solar. This allowed the company to build
up a formidable product range and provide turnkey solutions for both module and
cell lines. Roth & Rau, with their silicon wafer based cell manufacturing
lines, were close behind in third spot. Applied Materials was a new entrant for
2008 with its SunFab silicon thin film on glass line and Schmid Gruppe rounded
out the top 5 with sales of its turnkey cell and module lines.

The turnkey PV manufacturing line suppliers provide complete integrated line of
production equipment needed for the manufacture of photovoltaic cells and
modules. They may source all or part of the toolset from third parties but they
are ultimately responsible for the turnkey manufacturing line. It has also
become increasingly common for turnkey suppliers to provide a standard process
and guarantee line output. Turnkey solutions are a particularly attractive way
for companies with little or no experience in the PV industry to enter the
market, and the relative ease of financing before 2009 has fuelled rapid growth
in this sector.