1 Terminal Drive, Plainview, New York 11803 • Phone (516) 677-0200 • Fax (516) 719-1200 • www.veeco.com

Honorable Jaclyn A. Brilling Secretary New York State Public Service Commission 3 Empire State Plaza Albany, New York 12223-1350

July 25, 2011

Honorable Jaclyn A. Brilling:

Veeco Instruments is a global leader in developing process equipment technology headquartered in Plainview, New York. The reason for writing you now is to express our appreciation for your support in the U.S. PhotoVoltaic Consortium (PVMC) which is led by the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) in partnership with SEMATECH. This initiative, supported by funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, as well as the state of New York in the area of clean energy, specifically PV solar technology is critical for the survival of the remaining U.S. based PV industry.

As a developer and manufacturer of process equipment in New York the decision to support and partner with PVMC was simple, if PVMC is successful, New York and in turn the nation will be successful. In the PV solar industry, like many others, the U.S. leads in innovation, but falls behind in manufacturing. PVMC is dedicated to revitalizing the manufacturing part of the PV value chain. Current investments in PVMC will allow for New York based companies to obtain a larger market share while improving U.S. competitiveness in this growing area.

The partnership of NYSERDA in PVMC is very much welcomed, however, further funding under the Systems Benefit Charge IV would provide allow for the development of more projects thereby shortening the time for the development and deployment of PV products resulting in achieving the DOE’s goal of $1/watt installed price. In turn achieving DOE’s goal would also benefit the Commission’s Renewable Portfolio Standard’s Customer-Sited Tier PV Program.

Additional funding provided by NYSERDA would specifically allow Veeco to potentially gain access to research programs to improve the functionality of the process tools developed for the solar industry.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Hohn General Manger, Veeco LED and Solar

Innovation. Performance. Brilliant.