April 17, 2008

Marlboro, MA, USA: Evergreen Solar Announces First Quarter 2008 Results

Evergreen Solar, a manufacturer of solar power products with its proprietary, low-cost String Ribbon™ wafer technology, today announced financial results for the quarter ended March 29, 2008. Product sales were $18.3 million for the first quarter of 2008, compared to $16.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2007 and $12.6 million in the first quarter of 2007.

Fees from EverQ, Evergreen Solar's joint venture with Q-Cells A.G. and Renewable Energy Corporation ASA, were $4.7 million for the first quarter of 2008, compared to $5.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2007 and $1.5 million in the first quarter of 2007. Such fees consist of royalties associated with licensing Evergreen Solar's String Ribbon technology and marketing and sales support provided by Evergreen Solar for EverQ product.

Gross margin was $7.7 million, or 33.6%, for the first quarter of 2008, compared to $6.2 million, or 28.1%, for the fourth quarter of 2007 and $2.8 million, or 20.1%, in the first quarter of 2007.

Net loss was $25,000 for the first quarter of 2008, compared to net income of $788,000, or $0.01 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2007 and a net loss of $6.2 million, or $0.09 per share, in the first quarter of 2007.

"Despite a difficult winter in our area, we made significant progress on the first 80 MW phase of our Devens facility over the last three months and expect to produce our first panels as scheduled in July." said Richard M. Feldt, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Evergreen Solar. "We have also begun the 80 MW Phase II expansion of this site which we expect will be operational by early 2009. When Phase I reaches full production capacity of approximately 20 MW per quarter in 2009, we believe that we will achieve operational and bottom line profitability."

"Late last week, we received the first shipment of the new generation Quad ribbon furnaces that will be used for wafer production at our Devens location and the next EverQ factory," said Feldt. "We have been making wafers with these furnaces in our Marlboro pilot facility this week and we are encouraged by the early results. With its simplified wafer growth technique, including more precise thermal control and automated laser cutting technology, we see substantial opportunity to significantly increase cell conversion efficiency and factory-wide yield over the next few years."

Revenue for the second quarter of 2008 is expected to be approximately $21.5 million to $22.5 million, including approximately $4.5 million of selling fees and royalty payments from EverQ. Gross margin is expected to be in the range of 25.0% to 30.0%.

Operating expenses are expected to be approximately $11.5 million excluding factory startup costs which are expected to be in the range of $9.5 million to $10.0 million. Operating loss is expected to be between $15.0 million and $15.5 million and net loss is expected to be approximately $12 million, or $0.10 per share.

Further details about: Evergreen Solar