BEKAERT EMBARKS ON RENEWABLE ENERGY

Bekaert, world wide most important manufacturer of steel wire, steel wire products and steel cord and a fast growing manufacturer of advanced materials, and

Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (ECD) and its subsidiary United Solar Systems Corp. (United Solar) (http://www.unisolar.com), a leading manufacturer of photovoltaic cells and modules based on thin film technology, have formed a joint venture named: "Bekaert ECD Solar Systems LLC" in which Bekaert will hold 60 % of the shares. The joint venture will assemble and sell world-wide photovoltaic cells and modules based on thin film technology. In addition, Bekaert has acquired a minority interest in United Solar and has the right to increase its equity share into a majority holding not later than 2004.

ECD, quoted on Nasdaq (ENER), is a high technology company in energy generation, energy storage and information technology. ECD and United Solar have pioneered, developed and hold basic patents covering the continuous roll-to-roll manufacturing of thin film amorphous silicon alloy solar cells. ECD, based in Troy (Michigan, USA), realised a turnover in fiscal year 1999 of USD 33 million and employs 325 people.

United Solar has a production plant at Troy with a yearly solar cell production capacity of 5 MegaWatt. In another plant at Tijuana (Mexico) it assembles under the trade name "UNI-SOLAR®" a broad array of solar modules of different sizes and capacities, as well as roofing elements (tiles and panels) with integrated solar cells. Turnover of United Solar in 1999 was USD 12.8 million and total employment in the two plants was 257 people.

The cash brought in by Bekaert will be used to accelerate market penetration and to expand capacity with a new plant for the industrial production of solar cells with an annual capacity of 25 MegaWatt.

United Solar employs a unique technology, protected by numerous patents, to produce photovoltaic cells by a continuous roll-to-roll process. This production process combines sputtering and other vacuum deposition technologies through which nine thin layers of amorphous silicon alloys in combination with other coatings are deposited on a continuous flexible metal sheet or on other substrates such as plastic foil.

The technologies that are used by United Solar fit perfectly and also broaden Bekaert’s wide range of coating technologies. The conversion of solar cells to power modules also underpins Bekaert’s strategy to produce more end products instead of half-products.

The market for solar cells and modules has grown very fast in the past years and its future potential is high. Photovoltaic cells are increasingly applied in consumer products, in stand-alone signalling systems, in various power modules, in off-grid building integrated power modules at remote places, and recently also more and more in grid connected systems promoted and subsidised by governments as an alternative form of clean energy for households. Its applications play in the general evolution in society towards clean, "green" and renewable energy.

The thin film technology of United Solar offers a large number of advantages compared to the traditional process of solar cells, using crystalline silicon, the most of which are:

At the press conference held in Brussels today, Mr. R. Decaluwé, CEO of Bekaert, made the following comments:

"This joint venture is of prime strategic importance and a deliberate step in Bekaert’s renewal process. It forms a "perfect fit" and is the fruit of our continuous search for new products and new applications in promising market segments with a high natural growth potential. It is based on our core competencies of metal transformation and a broad range of coating technologies and moves Bekaert closer to end-users. The large number of patents and technologies owned by United Solar will be combined with Bekaert’s portfolio of competencies that will push the growth of United Solar and will also trigger the development of other new products and new applications in the future. This joint venture, which is the result of the self renewing process that is going on at Bekaert, should fundamentally change the market image of Bekaert in the near future."

Mr. G. Haemers, Corporate Vice President for "Bekaert Advanced Materials (BAM)" added:

"Bekaert focuses not only on highly advanced technological processes and products but also on promising market segments that receive increasingly high attention in large sections of the population. Examples are care for the environment, care for pure water, pure air and for green non-polluting energy. Bekaert is already active in water purification through the manufacture in its Spanish composite plant of high-pressure composite vessels for "reverse osmosis". In the transportation sector, important energy savings can be realised through the use of light and strong composite structures in trains, trucks and buses. We develop and manufacture filters for micro filtration that can be used for filtering liquids and gases (e.g. exhaust gases) based on ultra-thin metal fibres. We design and manufacture environmentally friendly gas burners, also based on thin metal fibres. To this considerable list of products that take care of the environment, we now add renewable or "green" energy. It is obvious that all these products will help us in achieving our objective of tripling BAM’s turnover in three years’ time and that they will push the growth and the profitability of Bekaert."