After Meyer Burger shut down its solar module manufacturing facility in Germany in March 2024, another German module fab is set to follow suit with Solarwatt announcing the decision to suspend production at its Dresden fab by the end of August 2024. It may ramp up production if the conditions improve.
According to local media reports, Solarwatt believes there are no framework conditions for it to continue producing modules in Germany at its 300 MW fab. It plans to now test Chinese modules at its Dresden fab while carrying out research and technical development, stated SolarWatt Managing Director Detlef Neuhaus while speaking to local news portal MDR.
The company has informed 190 employees of its decision. At the end of last year, it had already laid off 85 employees.
The solar PV manufacturing industry of Europe, especially Germany, has been trying to attract government attention to the need for financial support especially in the wake of cheaper Chinese modules flooding the continent's warehouses. As a result, module prices have declined significantly.
German module manufacturers have especially been asking for a resilience bonus, which would ensure demand for locally-produced solar modules for PV installations. However, the recent clearance of Solar Package I by the German Parliament did not include a resilience bonus.
To top it, the industry players point to the barriers for Chinese module manufacturers in other growing markets such as the US and India. These hurdles divert the Chinese modules to Europe, where the European Commission has made it clear that it is not currently thinking of any trade barriers.
Solarwatt was preceded by Meyer Burger, which is now in the process of shifting its module facility to the US where it is also building a solar cell fab. The company is there to avail of attractive incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). It is now also one of the signatories to the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee that has launched a set of anti-dumping and countervailing duty petitions against Chinese manufacturers shipping their solar cells and modules to the US via Southeast Asian nations to circumvent tariffs.
Even outside Germany, the chaos is spreading in other parts of Europe. Norwegian wafer manufacturer Norwegian Crystals has filed for bankruptcy while Norsun has temporarily shut down its facility, among others, even though there are newer players planning GW-scale forays into solar module manufacturing like HoloSolis in France.
European manufacturers will now be pinning their hopes on the European Parliament's recently cleared Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) under which local production of clean energy technologies including solar panels can get national support. The member states will need to auction 6 GW of renewable energy/year factoring in sustainability and resilience criteria.