Oct 6, 2009

Munich, October 6, 2009. Centrosolar Sonnenstromfabrik, Wismar, one of the biggest solar module plants in Germany, is operating at full capacity.

Thanks to the substantial rise in sales of high-quality modules made in Wismar, the plant’s original production capacity of 70 MWp has already been increased to 110 MWp. There is a clear preference for solar modules “Made in Germany” in the roof system markets which are served by the CENTROSOLAR Group. Dr. Alexander Kirsch, CEO of CENTROSOLAR Group AG, commented: “Over the past few weeks the media have been claiming that the German solar industry is being elbowed out by competitors from China. We see no sign whatsoever of that happening in our core market for roof systems. Our plant in Wismar has been operating at full capacity since June and capacity was increased from 70 to 110 MWp in August; 220 new employees have been recruited since the new site opened mid 2008 – and we should add that our German manufacturing operations are profitable. We haven’t entered into any major long-term agreements for solar cells, so we are now able to benefit from the lower prices for high quality solar cells at the procurement end.”

CENTROSOLAR has created one of Germany’s largest and most modern module manufacturing plants in the guise of its Sonnenstromfabrik at Wismar. The plant uses cutting-edge production facilities to turn out high-quality crystalline modules of the CENTROSOLAR brand. The personnel costs component in solar module production is in the order of just 5 %, thanks to the highly automated production lines used at Wismar. The quality of the starting materials and the care taken in their processing are key to the high performance of the solar modules, which CENTROSOLAR guarantees for a period of at least 26 years. Dr. Kirsch continued: “There is consequently no difference at cost level; merely a quality difference – reflected in the price difference – between German quality modules and cheap products from Asia. Our end customers, the owners of homes or commercial properties, are not prepared to take risks with their roofs and want guaranteed quality at a good price. We offer precisely that.”