Around 800 jobs will be preserved as a result of the acquisition, being secured in the wholly-owned SolarWorld subsidiary SolarWorld Industries-Thüringen GmbH. The purchase agreement has already been signed and the deal means that SolarWorld will now take over a cell production plant with a nominal year-end capacity of 700MW and a module production plant with a nominal year-end capacity of 200 MW from Bosch Solar Energy AG. The acquisition will also establish the first European solar energy group with a production capacity of over 1GW.
“Only with the highest quality standards can we meet the demands of our customers and offer guarantees of 25 or even 30 years” said Dr.Ing. E. h. Frank Asbeck, CEO of SolarWorld AG. “The acquisition of the production facilities of Bosch Solar Energy strengthens SolarWorld. We are reinforcing Germany’s leadership in photovoltaics.”
SolarWorld manufactures solar wafers, solar cells and solar modules in Germany and the US. With the new facilities, the company will now become the largest solar technology manufacturer in the western world. The two companies use cell technologies that have a high degree of efficiency. They are particularly reknowned for their technological development and industrial application of high-efficiency PERC technology. SolarWorld’s main intention was to obtain further efficiency gains and cost reductions through the consolidation of research activities and production experience. The full restructuring process is expected to be complete by the end of Feburary 2014, subject to a pending antitrust approval and other closing conditions.
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