German PV installer and distributor Wagner & Co Solar has filed for insolvency in a court in Germany.
The company is the latest in a line of firms whose fortunes have fallen with the drop in domestic demand for solar power.
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“Unfortunately, the market for solar power and heating systems has not as developed positively in recent months, as we had assumed…in our restructuring plan,” a statement from the company said.
According to the firm, sustained losses meant it could no longer guarantee that it could fund its everyday operations without structural changes.
The company has appointed Dr. Jan Markus Plathner of the law firm Brinkmann & Partner as the preliminary insolvency administrator.
Andreas Knoch, CEO, Wagner & Co Solar, said he hoped that the company could continue operations after restructuring.
“We see insolvency proceedings with an experienced administrator like Dr. Plathner as a good chance for a fresh start. A liquidator has better options to realign our company financially and structurally [than] the management alone in the current situation,” added Knoch.
Last week market research firm NPD Solarbuzz claimed that the UK would overtake Germany as Europe’s largest PV market in 2014.
Kamil Shah, marketing manager of Wagner Solar UK told PV Tech that the UK operation would not be affected.
“The UK outfit is not a subsidiary of Wagner & Co in Germany. We are a standalone company established as a joint venture between UK shareholders and Wagner & Co in Germany, which is also a shareholder,” he said.
“The business is managed independently and is fully autonomous. We have built up a successful company. Our intention is to close this year in profit and so far we are on track. We have also added three new employees this year, which reflects that.”
Shah said the company was bullish about it prospects as its focus on the mid-scale market became aligned with UK government policy.
The recent solar strategy published by the UK department of energy and climate change (DECC) signalled a reorientation of priorities from larger ground-mount sites to mid-size rooftop projects.
