Meyer Burger, the last producer of solar modules in Germany, has announced plans to close down and relocate to the US, fuelling political debates on whether the industry deserves long-term state support to ensure its survival.
Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck’s plan to entice solar module manufacturers back onto German soil by offering generous state subsidies is faced with a dead-end.
Within the fractuous government coalition, the liberal FDP party is blocking plans to grant a “resilience bonus” to would-be manufacturers, amid a continued budget crisis caused by a ruling from Germany’s top court last month which blew a €60 billion hole in the country’s finances. EURACTIV has the story.
Now, the Swiss module producer Meyer Burger is threatening to relocate to the US entirely, putting 500 jobs at risk.
Following losses of about €133 million in 2023, “the company is preparing to close down module production in Germany”, Meyer Burger said in a statement on Wednesday (17 January).
Solar panels are mostly manufactured in China these days, but Germany is still home to some parts of the value chain. Polysilicon, for example, is produced by chemicals company WACKER in Saxony, a former communist state of East Germany.
“Poly”, as the industry calls it, is treated in various ways before companies like Meyer Burger assemble the modules at their site, which is also located in Saxony.
The region’s brand name? “Silicon Saxony”, a state where most of Germany’s microchip production facilities are also located.
Made in Germany
Saxony is alarmed by Meyer Burger’s plans to relocate.
“This announcement is a wake-up call,” said the state’s energy minister, Wolfram Günther, adding: “We now need a quick decision in favour of a protected national market segment with resilience criteria.”
He wants a share of the German market to be reserved for modules “made in Germany”.
Meyer Burger, which claims technological leadership in manufacturing high-efficiency solar panels – although some media reports suggest otherwise – has blamed its woes on unfair foreign competition, like dumping.
“As long as the legislator does not create fair competition despite its announcements, we are preparing the restructuring in Germany,” said CEO Gunter Erfurt.
Their threat to close shop – far from the first one by the company – revives old fears in Germany, which lost much of its budding solar panel industry to Chinese competition in the late noughties.
Meyer Burger’s announcement comes as the German government struggles to provide sufficient state support to retain domestic production.
“We are in talks with Meyer Burger, and we are very aware of the difficult situation of this company and the PV industry in Germany,” a government spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The company set a deadline for “the second half of February 2024” and called for “resilience measures” to secure production in Germany.
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