Air Products Selects Suppliers for Solar Farm at US Headquarters

Project Will be One of Largest Silicon Thin-Film Installations in US

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Oct 06, 2010, 02:23 ET

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Air Products (NYSE: APD) today announced it has chosen Blue Sky Solar as its turnkey installer for its 2MW solar farm at its US headquarters in Allentown, Pa. Blue Sky Solar will be executing the project with Newkirk Electric Associates providing the mechanical and electrical construction.

Blue Sky Solar will be installing silicon, tandem thin-film photovoltaic (PV) panels from ENN Solar and Astronergy, two Air Products customers. Both ENN and Astronergy use Air Products' SunSource™ Solutions—a complete portfolio of gases and materials, equipment and services—to manufacture their silicon thin-film panels.

"Air Products' SunSource Solutions provide photovoltaic manufacturers with the ability to improve their production and drive down their costs-per-watt, bringing them closer to the goal of grid parity," said David Tavianini, worldwide PV marketing manager for Air Products. "Air Products is pleased to see the US solar market continue to expand and is proud to be building one of the largest silicon thin-film installations in the country."

Thanks to some early engineering work, including the optimization of the solar field size with the inverter equipment, Air Products now expects to generate about 2MW of electricity versus the previously announced 1.5MW. By utilizing the 2MW of renewable power, Air Products reduces its dependence on purchased electricity thereby lowering its carbon dioxide (CO2) footprint by approximately 2,000 tons per year. The 2MW of electricity are enough to serve the energy needs of more than half of Air Products' administration buildings.

To view the complete news release, visit www.airproducts.com/PressRoom/CompanyNews/Archived/2010/06Oct2010.htm.

***NOTE: This release may contain forward-looking statements within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management's reasonable expectations and assumptions as of the date of this release regarding important risk factors. Actual performance and financial results may differ materially from projections and estimates expressed in the forward-looking statements because of many factors not anticipated by management, including risk factors described in the Company's Form 10K for its fiscal year ended September 30, 2009.

SOURCE Air Products