Chinese solar cell manufacturer Yingli Green Energy Holding yesterday signed a contract to supply crystalline photovoltaic-solar modules to a 9-mW power plant in Slovakia this year.

Yingli will supply more PV modules to the Slovakia power plant after it expands its capacity to 20 mW later this year, Wang Gang, general manager, Yingli Energy, Beijing Branch, told China Daily in a phone interview from Slovakia.

The contract was signed during Chinese President Hu Jintao's two-day official visit to Slovakia.

President Hu also made a proposal to start cooperative projects with Slovakia in infrastructure construction, new energy, agriculture and environment protection during his talks with Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic on Thursday.

"It is in line with the company's strategy to develop new markets in East Europe," said Wang, without disclosing the terms of the deal.

Yingli has also speeded up its development in Eastern Europe. It said last Friday that its PV modules would be installed in a 13 mW power plant in Czech Republic, producing enough electricity to supply more than 3,000 households per year.

These deals also indicate the recovery in the solar market since the second quarter of this year.

Yingli said in a statement earlier this month that it expects shipments to increase 70 percent in the second quarter, 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 solar industry has been hit since the end of last year due to credit freezes as a result of the financial crisis and an oversupply of solar panels cutting prices sharply.

Other solar players including top Chinese panel maker Suntech Power Holdings Co said in recent weeks that it has already seen encouraging signs of a recovery in the solar market.

(China Daily June 21, 2009)