“The constantly progressing climate change is forcing us to make our energy supply more and more carbon free. My idea is that by 2050 the renewable energies will cover our energy needs almost completely”, said Environment Minister Röttgen during the celebrations at Freiberg’s Industrial Estate East. “A new market is emerging, in Germany and worldwide. It is only through permanent innovation and a brand strategy that the German manufacturers can stand their ground in this increasingly tougher international competition. SolarWorld has adopted a very good approach here and I am positive that SolarWorld AG will continue to write its success story.”
On the whole SolarWorld will be investing €350 million in this new production facility. “This makes it one of the largest investments in the photovoltaic business ever made in Germany”, explains Frank H. Asbeck, Chairman and CEO of SolarWorld AG. “At all our locations we are producing to high quality, environmental and social benchmarks setting standards worldwide. Freiberg as the very heart of our worldwide production will be further expanded and in doing so we will send out a signal against the industry trend of outsourcing production capacities to other countries.” SolarWorld is one of Germany´s Top 100 employers. In the “trendence Absolventenbarometer 2010” published by the German business magazine “Manager Magazin”, SolarWorld AG is among the most popular employers among engineers, lying in 14th place.
With the new building, SolarWorld will become even more efficient in production: The entire manufacturing process is fully automated and boasts low energy and water consumption. In addition, the waste heat from crystallization is used to heat the entire building. The roughly one-megawatt solar power plant on the industrial roof supplies clean electricity for about 1,000 people. At its largest production site worldwide in Freiberg, SolarWorld employs 1,700 people which makes it the largest industrial employer in the rural district of Central Saxony.
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