SolarWorld AG: Laying of Foundation Stone for Third Module Production in Freiberg

With two expansion projects, SolarWorld AG is reconfirming its commitment to Germany as a production location.

Bonn/Freiberg: Today, the solar power manufacturer celebrates the laying of the foundation stone at its third module production facility in Freiberg in Saxony, SolarWorld AG’s largest site worldwide. By the beginning of 2011, the group will have established a modern, fully automated production facility for crystalline photovoltaic modules on a 26,000 square meter plot of land in the Saxonia Industrial Park. This will more than triple the annual production capacities at the Freiberg location to 450 megawatts. Freiberg production lines will be turning out more than five modules per minute. Experience from other SolarWorld AG module production facilities worldwide will be injected into this new high-tech production location. According to current planning, some 200 new employees will be added to the headcount by this project.

Logistics center expanded
In the Saxonia Industrial Park in Freiberg, SolarWorld AG has been expanding its logistics center SolarLog. Within five months, an extension was built that expanded the SolarLog by 2,500 to a total of 13,000 square meters of ground surface. In the shipping hall, solar kits consisting of modules and the supplementary accessories are prepared for dispatch. This may be a solar kit with a battery system, for example. With the storage system SunPac by SolarWorld solar power producers are able to increase their self-consumption, thus becoming more independent from the power price increases of their energy utility. “SolarWorld is preparing with this expansion for the challenges of a dynamic market and the simultaneously growing Freiberg production. We will noticeably accelerate shipments and improve our service to customers,“ said Frank Asbeck, chairman and CEO of SolarWorld AG. After completion of expansion of the logistics center, ten trucks can be loaded simultaneously at ten loading ramps. Starting in 2011, two million SolarWorld modules per annum will be shipped from Freiberg.

Honorary doctorate for Frank Asbeck
Chairman and CEO of SolarWorld AG, Frank Asbeck, today will receive an honorary doctorate from the Technical University and Mining Academy of Freiberg for his commitment to photovoltaic research as well as for his contribution to the cultural life of the City of Freiberg. “Especially the decision to locate the Research and Development activities of SolarWorld in Freiberg is of great structural policy importance both for the location and for the university,” said the Senate in its laudation. Having established the research company SolarWorld Innovations GmbH, which currently employs 92 people, Frank Asbeck underlined the importance of a modern industrial company’s own innovation work. Long years of cooperation between SolarWorld and the Technical University of Freiberg have covered many different areas – from joint research projects via the SolarWorld Foundation Fund to the “Photovoltaic” graduate school – and will be continuously expanded in the future.

About SolarWorld AG: The SolarWorld AG Group (ISIN: DE0005108401) is a world leader in supplying branded, high quality crystalline solar power technology. Its strength is the full integration of its solar production. From the raw material of silicon via wafers, cells and modules all the way to turn-key solar power plants including recycling the group combines all the stages of the solar value chain. The central business activity is the sales of quality modules to the specialist trade and of crystalline wafers to the international solar cell industry. Corporate headquarters are in Bonn. Production locations are in Germany, the USA and South Korea. The largest production facilities are operated by the group in Freiberg/Germany and Hillsboro/USA. Sustainability is the very basis of our corporate strategy. Under the name Solar2World the group funds aid projects in threshold and developing countries with off-grid solar power solutions that are examples for sustainable and economic development. Worldwide SolarWorld has more than 2,700 people on its payroll. SolarWorld AG has been quoted at the stock exchange since 1999 and is today listed among others in the technology indices TecDAX, ÖkoDAX, Dow Jones STOXX 600 as well as the sustainability indices DAXglobal Alternative Energy and NAI.

Contact SolarWorld AG
Press: Tel.-No.: 0228/55920-400, E-Mail: press@solarworld.de
Investor Relations: Tel.-No.: 0228/55920-470; Fax-No.: 0228/55920-9470,
E-Mail: placement@solarworld.de

Internet: www.solarworld.de