German solar industry looks to rise again

BITTERFELD-WOLFEN, Germany, Oct 22 (AFP): A decade after a wave of bankruptcies all but wiped out the German solar industry, the sector is looking to reestablish itself in the face of stiff competition from abroad.

Overproduction in China and massive government subsidy programmes in the United States mark the struggle to stay profitable for a business that used to boom in Germany.

In Bitterfeld-Wolfen, a solar cell plant opened in 2021 by the Swiss group Meyer Burger on the site of defunct German producer Q-Cells is a sign of a possible renaissance.

"We managed to recruit a number of former employees in the sector, and we are benefitting from their know-how," the director of the Meyer Burger factory, Jochen Fritsche, told AFP.