SunPower Corporation (Nasdaq: SPWRA, SPWRB) announced that, under a strategic supply agreement, Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502) will order 48 megawatts of high-efficiency solar panels from SunPower during the 2011 Japanese fiscal year ending March 31, 2012. Toshiba will use the panels to support the company's residential solar offering in Japan, which was launched last year with a supply agreement for 32 megawatts of SunPower panels.

"Japan is the leader in Asia in the residential solar market, which is an excellent fit for SunPower's world-leading, high efficiency solar panels," said SunPower CEO Tom Werner. "We are pleased to extend our partnership with Toshiba, a global business leader, to make high-efficiency SunPower panels available to more homeowners in Japan who value our reliability and guaranteed performance."

"Since we launched our residential solar business in Japan early last year, we have recorded solid achievements by implementing comprehensive sales and marketing activities, including expansion of sales channels," said Takeshi Yokota, general manager of Photovoltaic Systems Division, Toshiba Corporation. "We look forward to building on this success and increasing market share in Japan by further reinforcing our partnership with SunPower."