SolarWorld resumes activities with 700 MW and 515 employees

After the approval of creditors and of the Germany antitrust authority, the newly created Solarworld Industries GmbH has officially taken over the production sites of insolvent German manufacturer SolarWorld AG. The new company intends to restart activities with 700 MW of annual production capacity, and to focus on PERC solar cell production and the manufacturing of bifacial glass-glass modules. A further expansion to the currently available capacity of over 1 GW is not excluded, the company said.

Solarworld Industries will restart with 515 employees, of which around 60% will be active in research activities. A transfer company for the 1200 Solarworld employees, which are not taken over in Arnstadt and Freiberg, will be responsible for their relocation in the job market. Behind the new company there are SolarWorld’s founder Frank Asbeck and Qatar Solar Technologies, a unit of Qatar Foundation.

SolarWorld Industrie announced that new products will be offered with the usual guarantee. Besides, the company said that there could be accommodating arrangements for old clients of SolarWorld partners. “I am delighted that after tough negotiations, we have succeeded in developing a future for SolarWorld production,” said Asbeck. “With this restart, we will ensure that solar products are still being developed and produced at a highest level in Germany. SolarWorld remains the crystallization point of the European solar industry. In addition, we want to open our research department more for industry partners in order to jointly promote solar technology.”

Together with the two production sites in Freiberg and Arnstadt, the new company has taken over SolarWorld’s sales companies in Europe, Asia, and Africa. “In the past weeks, we have received considerable support from the solar industry of researchers, suppliers and European competitors, but especially from our customers, in order to maintain the sites and the SolarWorld brand. Thus, we have already going to sign today a new contract for the new company of 25 megawatts,” Asbeck said.