Renewable energies: sunrise without subsidies

In the hall in the commercial area of ​​Ottendorf-Okrilla, Udo Jürgens comes to mind. In 1967, the pop singer released a song about the vicissitudes of life. “When the autumn wind decides so, when life takes something from us: trust the time,” he sang and added a line that has become a household phrase: “… because the sun always, always rises.”

Due to an industrial sector that wants to make money from the sun, the autumn wind will blow in the spring of 2024, at least in Germany and Europe. The solar industry, whose products are urgently needed for a future without greenhouse gases, is experiencing a sunset. In Freiberg, Saxony, the Meyer Burger company has stopped the production of photovoltaic modules, because their production is no longer economical in view of dumping competition from the Far East. 500 employees were laid off; Her last day of work is at the end of April. Life, to use Udo Jürgens’ words, has taken a lot from them. Michael Kellner, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, admits that “not everything is rosy in the PV industry.” Saxony’s SPD Economics Minister Martin Dulig adds that people are looking at the industry “with concern.”

This Monday, Kellner and Dulig are standing 50 kilometers from Freiberg in Ottendorf-Okrilla, where a good place would be to intone the more optimistic part of Jürgens’ hit song. This is where the sun will rise again: at the company Solarmaxx, which produces a more versatile version of solar modules. From the front, they are no different from those manufactured by Meyer Burger that convert sunlight into electricity. On the back, however, snake-shaped ribs are embossed into a sheet of metal; In addition to cable connections, there are also two flexible hoses. According to managing director Wilhelm Stein, liquid flows through this, which feeds the waste heat from the solar cells to a heat pump and makes it available for heating living spaces and offices. “Photovoltaic-thermal modules” (PVT) are the names of the products whose efficiency is four times higher than that of PV modules and which are “several years ahead” of the competition. Stein is confident that we can “be consistently competitive with the Asian competition.”

So far, such hopes for the German solar industry have always been deceptive. She has already had several euphoric departures, each followed by disillusionment. It started for the first time in the early 2000s. In an industrial area in Thalheim, Saxony-Anhalt, which will soon be called Solar Valley The manufacturer Q-Cells experienced a phenomenal upswing. Promoted by the Renewable Energy Act of the red-green federal government, the company catapulted itself to number 3 in the world and attracted further settlements. Thousands of jobs were created. Ten years later the dream was over. Cheap Chinese products flooded the European market, and many domestic manufacturers threw in the towel.

One of them, who was caught somewhat late, was producing in Freiberg. Founded by the colorful entrepreneur Frank Asbeck Solarworld was considered a model company for the German energy transition: the most renowned manufacturer of photovoltaic modules, components and kits that enable every homeowner to become a generator of clean solar power. The first crisis in April 2013 was overcome; In the summer of 2018, however, it came to an end because of cheap competition from China. 3,000 people lost their jobs.

Three years later, Meyer Burger moved into the deserted halls, raised new hopes – and is now failing due to the same conditions as Solarworld. China has been flooding the European market with modules at competitive prices since they can no longer be sold overseas due to current US industrial policy. A stock market listing from Meyer Burger spoke of “current market distortions caused by oversupply and dumping prices for solar modules”. The company posted losses of 126 million Swiss francs in 2023. Most recently, they had hoped for political support, for example in the form of a “resilience bonus” that would reward the purchase of domestically produced modules. The aid package failed because of the FDP. A member of the Bundestag said: “If a business model only works with subsidies, it isn’t one.”

Sunmaxx hopes to have a better model. They have “refined a mass product” and hope to be able to further reduce the costs of the modules through further innovations and large-scale production, says Stein: “We think this can work without government subsidies.” Many people share this hope. It would be important to keep “key technologies in the country through sustainable business models,” says Economics Minister Dulig. As a precautionary measure, State Secretary Kellner nevertheless refers to the Net Zero Industry Act being discussed in the EU, which, if confirmed by the EU Parliament and member states, could ensure that “products from Europe are given special consideration” in tenders.

Sunmaxx still only supplies a small part of it. Modules with an output of ten megawatts are to be produced by the end of 2024, which is enough for 1,000 single-family homes. The number of jobs is still quite low at 25, but by the end of 2024 there will be up to 80. If things go well, production can be increased to three gigawatts a year, which would require more employees. There is enough potential. A complete factory belonging to the Baden-Württemberg automotive supplier Mahle, which is one of the investors in Sunmaxx, is soon to be equipped with PVT elements that will completely cover the local electricity and heat requirements. “With modules like ours, entire districts and industrial sites can be decarbonized,” says Stein. We can only hope that China continues to work on the technology for a while.