German energy companies offer to take on Meyer Burger’s solar module production

The decisions came on the same day (23 February) as Swiss-headquartered solar manufacturer Meyer Burger called for an emergency meeting to approve final funding for its US manufacturing plants, as the company looks to move its operations from Germany to the US and close down the module assembly plant in Germany.

Module production at the Freiberg plant is expected to be halted in the first half of March with the plant to be closed in April this year. Meyer Burger has been the latest European solar manufacturer to announce the shutdown of some of its operations in Europe, with the domestic industry in turmoil in the past few months.

The European Solar Manufacturing Council’s secretary general, Johan Lindahl said earlier this year to PV Tech that: “All European module manufacturers are suffering heavily. We are about to lose, within the next month, at least half of our up-and-running modern module manufacturing capacity in Europe.”

Enpal has started testing production in existing locations in Germany and Europe, although has not given any more details about it. PV Tech contacted Enpal for further information regarding the move and the technology that will be used.

“As the largest solar provider in Germany, we are ready to participate in building a diversified European solar industry. This transformation must now be initiated quickly in accordance with politics,” said Mario Kohl, CEO and founder of Enpal.

1Komma5° offers to “save” Meyer Burger’s module plant

1Komma5°, a German energy start-up, was another company which offered to pick up on Meyer Burger’s module production. Its CEO and co-founder, Philipp Schröder, said to PV Tech that the company was ready to save the module area of Meyer Burger in Germany.

“Should Meyer Burger give up production in Saxony completely, we are prepared to at least save the module production and secure as many jobs at the site as possible. We are very interested and are already in contact with the Board of Directors of Meyer Burger,” said Schröder to PV Tech.

Schröder added that the company had already invested a double-digit million Euro amount in polysilicon from Germany, a year ago. “Accordingly, 1KOMMA5° is very interested in further strengthening value creation in Europe and having the modules manufactured here in addition to the production of polysilicon.”

On top of investing in European polysilicon, the company unveiled in October 2023 its plan to build up to 5GW tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) module assembly plant in Germany by 2030, with a target to start commercial operations in 2024 and an initial annual nameplate capacity of 1GW.

This announcement comes mere weeks after 1Komma5° decided to leave the German Solar Industry (BSW-Solar) as it questioned calls for subsidies towards solar manufacturers in the country and a “production bonus” for selected manufacturers.

“Subsidies in this form would only help individual companies in the short term, while the sustainable development of a solar module industry in Germany would actually be slowed down. The bonus would essentially lead to a monopoly for individual manufacturers and at the same time distort the market,” said Schröder.

All these developments come as the German government’s decision to implement a package for domestic solar manufacturing – called Solar Package I – has not yet been finalised and discussions are ongoing between the three-party government, with an unlikely solution happening before March.

Updated on 27 February at 16:42, as previously the article mentioned the location of the plant being in Freiburg, when it is actually located in Freiberg, Saxony.