European solar manufacturer keeps production in Germany, does not move to US

Germany’s largest solar panel manufacturer, Swiss company Meyer Burger, announced that it would not close its plant or move to the US. Producing cells in Germany is “the most economical option” for supplying its panel assembly lines, the company added.

Meyer Burger announced in January that it would close its German solar cell plant, which has a stated annual production capacity of 650 MW. It has now announced, however, that its planned factory in Colorado Springs, US, will not be built. Euractiv reports,

“The existing cell production plant in Germany will continue to operate at full capacity and, contrary to earlier plans, will remain the backbone of Meyer Burger’s solar cell supply in the future,” the company said. The German plant will therefore continue operating, despite the company not receiving the government subsidies it had applied for.

“Let’s support the domestic solar industry”

The announcement amounted to “good news for Germany as a business location”, said Sascha Müller-Krämer, director of the non-governmental organisation Environmental Action Germany, on X, while renewing calls for “a programme to support the domestic photovoltaic industry”.

The Berlin government was unable to adopt a subsidy programme for domestically manufactured solar panels at the beginning of the year because of firm opposition from the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP).

At the time, subsidy advocates cited Meyer Burger as an example of what needed to be avoided.

The most economical option

Besides saying that keeping production in Germany appeared to be the most economical option from the perspective of supplying its assembly lines, Meyer Burger said it had scaled back its ambitions to benefit from the US’s multi-billion-dollar subsidy programme, the Inflation Reduction Act, by claiming fewer tax credits to finance its expansion in the country.

The company’s shares have been falling since a brief recovery in mid-2023 and plunged by a further 47% following the announcement.

After Meyer Burger announced that it would move its production to the US, Solarwatt announced a similar move. It plans to relocate production to Asia.