Spectacular comeback The new boom in the solar industry

As of: 06/24/2021 8:03 a.m.

After years of decline and bankruptcies, the solar industry in Germany is experiencing a comeback. Even solar cells are being produced again in this country. Help is also coming from the coalition.

From Lothar Gries, tagesschau.de

While the expansion of wind turbines is stalling, photovoltaic systems are enjoying ever greater popularity. In a tender in March, the Federal Network Agency was literally overrun with applications. There were more than twice as many interested parties as expected. Much to the delight of the Union and the SPD, who are agreed on an immediate program for energy and climate protection shortly before the summer break . After the federal cabinet yesterday given the green light has, the package should to be passed by the Bundestag today . According to this, the tender volumes for photovoltaic systems will be increased by 4.1 gigawatts to six gigawatts from next year. In the future, the municipalities will also be able to participate financially in photovoltaic areas. Until now, this was only possible with wind turbines. The Union and the SPD could not agree on a solar obligation for new buildings. Consumer advocates and the Haus und Grund association had heavily criticized the plans.

Mega boom in the solar industry

Solar systems were already very popular last year. According to the Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft (BSW), a quarter more solar systems were installed on German roofs than in the previous year, exactly 184,000, with an output of around 4.9 gigawatts. No other form of energy grew faster in power generation. However, pull-forward effects probably also contributed to this. In the spring there was still uncertainty about the continued existence of state subsidies, plus the temporarily reduced value added tax.

Almost every tenth kilowatt hour consumed this year comes from solar energy in this country. The Federal Association of Energy and Water Management (BDEW) is already demanding that new solar systems with an output of at least ten gigawatts (GW) be installed every year by 2030. “We need a solar boom,” said BDEW chairwoman Kerstin Andreae recently to “Handelsblatt”.

Again solar cells from Bitterfeld

The domestic production of solar modules is celebrating an unexpected comeback these days. Solar cells are being produced again in Germany, in what was once the “Solar Valley” near Bitterfeld in Saxony-Anhalt. The Swiss company Meyer Burger recently opened a new plant here, which will be ramped up these days.

“At the historic Solar Valley solar location, we are setting a milestone on Europe’s path to more strategic independence in the key technology of photovoltaics,” said CEO Gunter Erfurt at the opening on May 18th. In the highly automated operation, up to 200,000 solar cells are expected to roll off the production line every day. In a first step, an annual capacity of 400 megawatts is planned. It should be five gigawatts by 2026.

Next door, the solar company Q-Cells, which belongs to the South Korean Hanwha Group, is expanding its location in Bitterfeld and intends to invest a good 140 million euros in the research and development of new, low-resource solar modules by 2023. Q-Cells was once one of the largest photovoltaic manufacturers in Europe, but was ousted by Chinese competition and had to file for bankruptcy in 2012 before the Koreans bought it.

The lucrative business with solar parks

In fact, the manufacture of solar panels plays a rather subordinate role in the rebirth of the industry. The most important players in the new boom are now operators and developers of solar parks, above all the Hamburg company Encavis, which has now been included in the MDAX share index. The electricity provider, formerly known as “Capital Stage AG”, acquires and operates solar power plants and (onshore) wind parks in Germany and other European countries – with success, as the latest outlook shows. The result this year is expected to increase more than twice as fast as in 2020. Sales are expected to grow to over 320 million euros, thanks to two newly connected solar parks in Spain with a maximum production capacity of 200 and 300 megawatts each. The regular income that such a business model generates has not escaped other entrepreneurs.

Is a new IPO imminent with BEE?

Five years ago, a dozen Encavis managers decided to start their own company. With financial help from the entrepreneurial family Wacker (Wacker Chemie) and the former publishing family Jahr, the wind and solar park operator Blue Elephant Energy (BEE) was created. The company controls systems with a combined output of 1.1 gigawatts. Projects of a similar size are being planned. BEE achieved an operating result (Ebitda) of more than 60 million euros last year with a turnover of over 80 million euros. Because of the unusually high margin and the industry’s growth prospects, there is even speculation that the Hamburg-based company will go public. The company could earn 150 million euros, insiders reported to the Reuters news agency. After that, the issue could be implemented this summer, if possible in July. The company does not comment on the speculation. But company boss Felix Goedhart is quoted by the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” as saying: “Our operating profit margin of 74 percent with low risk should be interesting for investors.”

Solar power from Mecklenburg for VW

Climate protection and the goal of the EU Commission to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 are generating more and more alliances between a wide variety of companies. The Hamburg asset manager Luxcara has acquired a solar park in Mecklenburg and commissioned the energy giant RWE to market it. RWE will supply the car manufacturer Volkswagen with electricity from next year. The system has a total capacity of 170 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year, which makes it one of the largest solar projects in Germany

Company location Less bankruptcies instead of bankruptcies

Status: 10.06.2021 11:38 a.m.

The number of companies filing for bankruptcy in Germany fell in the first few months of the year. Other numbers also indicate no bankruptcy wave so far. But there were significantly more consumer bankruptcies. In the current year, the wave of bankruptcies feared as a result of the corona crisis has not materialized in Germany so far. From January to March, 3762 companies filed for bankruptcy, as the Federal Statistical Office announced. That meant a decrease of 19.7 percent compared to the first quarter of the previous year. “The economic hardship of many companies due to the Corona crisis was therefore not yet reflected in an increase in the number of reported corporate insolvencies,” explained the statisticians. The number of regular insolvency proceedings opened gives indications of further developments. In May, this was seven percent below the value of the previous month. In April there was even a decline of 17 percent after significant growth rates had been registered in February and March.

Effect of the Corona exception rules

One reason for the low number of company bankruptcies in the current year is the obligation to file for insolvency, which was temporarily suspended during the Corona crisis, for insolvent and over-indebted companies. Insolvent companies have had to file for bankruptcy again since October 2020. This obligation was suspended until the end of December for over-indebted companies. For companies that have been waiting for the payment of the government aid that has been planned since November, the obligation to apply for insolvency proceedings since May 1, 2021 applies again in full in the event of an imbalance. On average, the companies affected by insolvency in the first quarter were larger than in the same period of the previous year. At 17.1 billion euros, the expected claims of the creditors were well above the figure for the same period in the previous year of 7.3 billion euros.

Consumer bankruptcies have risen sharply

The number of consumer bankruptcies developed differently than with companies. This rose in the first quarter by more than half compared to the same period of the previous year to 22,686. “The sharp increase is related to a law to gradually shorten residual debt discharge procedures from six to three years,” explained the Federal Statistical Office. The new regulation enables those affected to make a quicker economic fresh start after insolvency proceedings. “It can therefore be assumed that many over-indebted private individuals initially withheld their application for bankruptcy in order to benefit from the new regulation,” it said.