Interview with Solarwatt boss
“180 degree turnaround in photovoltaics”
02/17/2023, 7:49 p.m
The German solar industry is being overwhelmed by a boom in demand. Solarwatt boss Detlef Neuhaus says in the podcast “The hour zero” how the country can benefit from it – and how dependent it is on China.
The year 2022 was an exceptional year for the German solar industry. After Russia invaded Ukraine, homeowners and small businesses also wanted to say goodbye to Russian gas, and demand for solar panels skyrocketed. After years of decline in the 1910s, an entire industry now senses the dawn and hopes for political support.
Neuhaus sees a positive development. “We are trying hard to consolidate regenerative energy in Germany again.”
(Photo: picture alliance / Arno Burgi/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa)
Even at the Dresden provider Solarwatt, which produces its own modules, the phones have been running hot in recent months. “From February, the volume of emails and calls has tripled and quadrupled,” says Detlef Neuhaus, head of the company, in the podcast “The hour zero”. Solarwatt’s sales are likely to top half a billion this year, and the company is feverishly expanding its production capacity. Neuhaus also sees an opportunity for the country in this development.
“We hope for a 180-degree turnaround in German photovoltaics,” says Neuhaus. “I think we all want to do that now – including politicians.” However, such growth also brings problems, Solarwatt and others often simply reached their limits in the past year. “We have to bridge the capacities that we don’t have ourselves with contract manufacturing,” says Neuhaus.
And made-to-order production, also for components, means China. The big question is therefore whether the boom in industry does not bring new dependencies with it – especially if China should restrict its exports in a conceivable trade war. But Neuhaus sees a positive development. “We are trying hard to consolidate regenerative energy in Germany again,” he says. “What we need is absolute will and speed.”
Listen in the new episode of “The Zero Hour“
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What renewable energies have to do with democracy
How much the majority owner Stefan Quandt has a say in Solarwatt
All episodes can be found directly at RTL+, Apple or Spotify or via Google.