PHOTON International The Photovoltaic Magazine

RWE Solar plans to sell 50 percent to Schott Glas

On March 25, RWE and Schott Glas said they intend to merge their solar subsidiaries into a single company. One simple reason for RWE's move is the benefits of Schott's worldwide distribution network.

	© RWE Solar
RWE grows the crystalline silicon ingots for its EFG cell technology in the form of octagons. Unlike bulk silicon ingots, this technology significantly reduces silicon waste during the wafer-slicing process.

One might get the impression that this company is used to changing its name like most people change their clothes. »The new name will further underscore our expertise,« Winfried Hoffmann commented in an interview with PHOTON International (see PI 4/2002, p. 14) about the decision to merge RWE Solar and Schott's PV unit into a joint venture, to be named RWE Schott Solar GmbH. But the CEO of RWE Solar did indicate that RWE Schott Solar should be the venture's final name.

RWE Solar's move appears rather strange insofar as it was just christened last September, when the RWE AG group renamed its TESSAG subsidiary RWE Solutions AG and changed most of TESSAG's affiliates into RWE-something. Previously, RWE Solar's name for about seven years was ASE GmbH - a brand that was well-known in solar circles and primarily associated with the firm's proprietary silicon ribbon technology, EFG. However, few noticed when ASE became part of the new TESSAG group in 1999 and changed its logo.

All this fuss over names and brands did not prevent RWE Solar from becoming number six in the world league of manufacturers last year. The 550 employees of the Alzenau, Germany-based company manufactured 22.7 MW of cells, which resulted in sales of €96 million ($83.4 million). In 2002, RWE Solar plans production of 28.8 MW and hopes to expand to about 100 MW by 2005, when a wafer, cell, and module factory currently being built next to its 20 MW cell factory in Alzenau is slated for full production.

RWE Solar is one of the few major players that owns five commercial cell technologies. They make a small quantity of monocrystalline cells for special applications in Heilbronn, Germany, where they also manufacture GaAs cells for the space industry. Amorphous silicon cells for consumer and power applications are produced in Putzbrunn, and polycrystalline cells are made primarily in Alzenau, along with silicon ribbon EFG cells, which are also manufactured in Billerica, Massachusetts. Unlike most of its large competitors, which are primarily expanding bulk silicon cell production, RWE is focusing on its EFG technology, which reaches efficiencies nearly as high as bulk polycrystalline cells, but achieves a better production yield by creating significantly less waste during the wafer-slicing process.

Last September, RWE Solar not only received its new name, but was given approval by its parent company to expand toward 100 MW. So why was there a need to sell 50 percent to a new partner? At any rate, it has not to be regarded as a first step toward selling off RWE Solar completely, underscores Hoffmann. And Gerhard Kratzer, manager of corporate public relations at Schott Glas adds: »To my knowledge, we don't plan to exceed our current share.« The argument for the joint venture is rather simple, as Kratzer puts it: »RWE Solar have factories and good products. We have a worldwide distributor network and can add the value of our material research experience with coatings and special glasses.«

The Schott Glas group includes 98 companies with 19,800 employees in 38 countries. For their fiscal year 2001, which ended last September, the company reported sales growth of 6 percent to €2 billion ($1.7 billion). Schott Glas, which is headquartered only about 80 km from RWE Solar's factory in Alzenau, started a PV business unit in late 2000. A first PV acquisition, announced in Jan. 2001, was Applied Power Corporation (APC), a leading US PV system distributor with 75 employees and a turnover of €20 million ($17.4 million). But Schott always said the APC deal was just a beginning, and a December press release about their FY 2001 results included an announcement of €100 million ($86.9 million) investments to expand their microlithography business and their PV business. Kratzer wouldn't say how much of this amount will actually be paid for the stake in the solar joint venture, but the expansion of RWE Solar's production facilities alone will cost €150 million ($130.4 million), of which Schott should bear an amount equivalent to their 50 percent share. But whatever the price, the investment should pay off. Schott now owns half of one of the world's top ten PV companies – and several of the others have less »high tech« products and technological expertise than RWE Solar, which in turn has found a new partner that is more enthusiastic about PV than its former sole owner RWE AG. ms