As of: February 23, 2024, 5:44 p.m
By: Amy Walker
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Gunter Erfurt (r), CEO of Meyer Burger Technology AG, explains the solar panels to Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck during a company visit.
© Soeren Stache/dpa
The announcement by the solar giant Meyer Burger that it will wind down the solar plant in Saxony by the end of April is causing disappointment in the industry.
But now there is a glimmer of hope.
Berlin – A few hours after solar module producer Meyer Burger announced that it would close solar production in Germany, the story could now take a positive turn.
As
IPPEN.MEDIA
has learned, the solar company 1Komma5° could imagine taking over “at least the module production” from Meyer Burger.
Migration from solar giant Meyer Burger: 1Komma5° could imagine taking over
“Should Meyer Burger completely give up production in Saxony, we are ready to at least save module production and secure as many jobs at the site as possible,” says Philipp Schröder, CEO and co-founder of 1Komma5° to our editorial team.
“1Komma5° is still interested in strengthening value creation in Europe and, in addition to producing polysilicon for its own production, also having the modules manufactured here.”
This was preceded by a press release from 1Komma5° in autumn 2023, in which the company announced its own production.
Production is to be located in the new federal states and up to 1,000 new jobs could be created by 2030, it was said at the time.
As a press spokesman has now confirmed, the location could be in Freiberg, Saxony, if Meyer Burger actually stops production.
Ministry of Economics in exchange with Meyer Burger
Meyer Burger initially announced a gradual approach: production would initially stop in the first half of March.
The company expects this to result in significant savings from April.
The closure is scheduled to come into force at the end of April.
However, managing director Gunter Erfurt made it clear on Friday that it is not yet clear whether this will actually happen.
There is still time for a solution at a political level before the company announces its annual figures in mid-March.
“So it could happen at the very last second,” said Erfurt.
He called for higher funding for European-made solar systems.
So far, however, the federal government has not been able to agree on the so-called resilience bonus.
Meyer Burger had already warned in January that it would make a decision by mid-February unless sufficient measures were taken to create fair competitive conditions in Europe, for example through resilience measures.
The federal government is aware of the difficult situation in the solar industry and continues to be in “intensive and trusting exchange” with the company, said the Federal Ministry of Economics.
Efforts are also being made to improve the framework conditions for the industry in Germany and Europe.
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With material from dpa