October 16, 2009

San Francisco, CA, USA: BP Solar Announces Agreement with Jabil to Manufacture Solar Modules in Poland

BP Solar today announced an agreement with Jabil Circuit, Inc. to manufacture BP Solar modules for the European market in Jabil’s plant in Poland. The agreement calls for an initial capacity of 45 megawatts (MW) in 2009 with the opportunity for expansion as demand increases.

“We have selected Jabil as our partner to help bring down the cost of manufacturing BP’s proprietary solar products, and help continue to deliver the highest lifetime value to our customers,” said Reyad Fezzani, CEO of BP Solar. He noted that Jabil has a strong track record of successfully working with customers in Solar and a broad range of similar industries. “We are confident that Jabil’s focus on manufacturing excellence will meet BP Solar’s exacting standards for safety reliability and product quality,” said Fezzani.

Fezzani stressed that Jabil will manufacture modules designed by BP Solar and that BP’s quality assurance standards will be integrated into Jabil’s processes. He added that BP Solar is especially pleased to inaugurate the partnership with Jabil in Europe – one of the most important markets for BP Solar.

“Jabil is pleased to be working with BP Solar, a longstanding leader in the solar industry. Our services allow businesses to innovate and grow – clearly BP Solar is on that track,” said Timothy L. Main, president and CEO of Jabil. Michael Petrucci, vice president of global operations, BP Solar said, “This partnership with Jabil, is part of our overall strategy to become more cost competitive and nimble by moving to a model of regional assembly and demand fulfillment centers, leveraging the scale of materials and production capacity.”

He added that this is another important step in improving cost competitiveness while remaining fully committed to the quality and higher lifetime value that BP Solar modules offer. Commenting on the market outlook for solar, Fezzani said, “While economic conditions have slowed growth in the past year, we have seen a significant uptick this past quarter. We expect that to continue.”

“Jabil’s ability to locate solar panel assembly operations in the major consuming regions of the world to optimize logistics provides a significant advantage to our customers and will afford BP Solar the opportunity to serve their customers more efficiently,” said Brain Althaver, vice president, Strategic Development. Althaver heads Jabil’s renewable energy business.

Further details about: Jabil and BP Solar