US company takes over solar technology from Meyer Burger

About six months after the insolvent solar module manufacturer Meyer Burger went out of business, a US company has taken over technology and equipment, raising hopes of a return to solar cell production in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. The company Swift Solar, based in Silicon Valley, California, has announced that it has taken over production facilities and "intellectual property". This will bring together research based in the USA with European expertise in the production of highly efficient silicon solar cells.

Goal: Western production and less dependence on Asia

The company did not initially disclose what will happen with the former production and development sites in Bitterfeld and Hohenstein-Ernstthal. Swift Solar only stated that it wanted to establish a western production base for new solar technology.

The production of solar cells remains the central bottleneck in the global supply chain of the solar industry, the company said. The production of highly efficient cells has so far been limited primarily to Asia. The takeover will give the company access to the relevant production technology.

Meyer Burger was the last major European manufacturer

The Swiss solar company Meyer Burger, with its sites in Hohenstein-Ernstthal in Saxony and Bitterfeld in Saxony-Anhalt, was considered the last major European solar manufacturer. Last fall, operations at the sites in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt were discontinued. The inventory was auctioned off. Around 600 employees in Germany had to leave. In the USA, around 300 employees lost their jobs.