Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. announced that the Company has signed a Joint Development Agreement with German based agrivoltaic thin-film solar tube maker, TubeSolar AG, to pursue the fast-growing Agricultural-photovoltaics/Agrivoltaics (APV) market. Management indicated that this JDA is a multi-million-dollar, long-term supply agreement, forming a strategic partnership between Ascent Solar and TubeSolar. This JDA includes (i) long-term supplier of customized PV (“PV Foils”) for TubeSolar, (ii) Non-Recurring Engineering Fee (“NRE Fee”) of up to $4M, payable by TubeSolar to Ascent Solar in three parts, (iii) establishment of a joint venture entity to develop a new manufacturing facility located in Germany (“JV FAB”), (iv) the Company will benefit from milestone payments by TubeSolar of up to $13.5 million, and (v) joint development efforts in next generation, high efficiency CIGS-Perovskite tandem PV cells.

TubeSolar, which previously invested $2.5 million into Ascent Solar, is a German listed publicly traded company that develops patented photovoltaic thin-film tubes assembled into modules specifically for various applications within the agricultural sector. This strategic partnership affords Ascent Solar another potentially lucrative revenue source, while also giving the Company the ability to expand into a market that currently has an install capacity of 2.8 gigawatts annually, and is estimated to reach a massive, 500 gigawatt capacity by 2050—according to the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems. Pursuant to the JDA, TubeSolar intends to purchase PV Foils from Ascent on a long-term basis, and expects to require up to 3 megawatts from Ascent Solar in 2022, up to 15 megawatts in 2023, up to 50 megawatts in 2024, and up to 2 gigawatts thereafter. However, the exact requirements of TubeSolar were not yet determined at the time of this agreement.

In addition to the $4 million NRE Fee that TubeSolar will pay Ascent Solar for the customized design of the PV Foils, Ascent Solar and TubeSolar have also jointly established a subsidiary company in Germany, Ascent Solar Germany, GmbH (“Ascent Germany”), in which Ascent Solar shall hold the controlling stake of 70% (the “JV”). This JV will be responsible for delivering the PV Foils exclusively to TubeSolar on a long-term basis. Management further indicated that it is anticipated that TubeSolar will pay Ascent Solar up to $13.5 million in four phases once the JV FAB achieves certain benchmarks relating to specific production capacities and/or cost structure.