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Hohenstein-Ernstthal. The Solar company Meyer Burger is to receive more than 200 million euros in funding from the European Union to build an additional 3.5 gigawatts of production capacity for solar cells and solar modules.
Among others, the site in Bitterfeld-Wolfen (Saxony-Anhalt) and probably another site in Spain could benefit from the subsidy money, as the company announced in Hohenstein-Ernstthal on Friday upon request. Meyer Burger is also currently looking for another site in Germany.
Meyer Burger: Criticism of solar subsidies in Europe
Accordingly, the project is one of the eleven selected candidates for EU funding. According to the EU Commission, a total of 239 projects applied in all funding segments, 41 of which were successful. In the photovoltaic production segment, the Norwegian company Norsun was also successful with a project to expand wafer production. According to Meyer Burger, the two companies are already in a supply relationship for solar wafers.
"We are very pleased that the EU Commission wants to support our project," said Managing Director Gunter Erfurt. The EU is not only contributing to the abandonment of fossil fuels and the transformation of the industry. It is also investing in the stability of the supply chains in the solar industry.
As recently as June, Gunter Erfurt had made headlines for criticizing what he saw as a lack of subsidies for the solar industry in Europe. In this context, Erfurt had threatened to shift more of its business to the USA.
The current tender of the "EU Innovation Fund" has a volume of 3.6 billion euros. The funds are intended in particular to drive forward the switch to an energy economy without emissions of the greenhouse gas CO2. (dpa)
