As of: March 27, 2024, 8:09 a.m
By: Marcel Reich
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The lights are finally going out at solar companies in Saxony.
The company has laid off its employees at the location.
More than 400 people lose their jobs.
Freiberg - The final end for Meyer Burger's solar module production in Freiberg has been sealed.
A company spokeswoman said the approximately 500 employees were laid off on Tuesday.
More than 400 people will lose their jobs as a result.
The others were offered contracts in other companies in the Swiss group.
Saxony's Energy Minister Wolfram Günther spoke of bitter news.
An employee performs quality control on a production line for solar modules at the Meyer Burger Technology AG plant.
© Sebastian Kahnert/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
Lindner remains in favor of the domestic solar industry
This was preceded by Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP)'s rejection of the so-called resilience bonus, which was intended to protect manufacturers in Europe who were under pressure.
Meyer Burger had made the future of the Freiburg location dependent on this support.
Lindner reiterated his rejection of large subsidies for the domestic solar industry on Sunday evening.
On Tuesday, Meyer Burger responded with the terminations.
It was still hoped that Berlin would come to the realization that support was necessary, said the spokeswoman.
This has finally fallen apart.
Meyer Burger announced the planned closure of the Freiberg plant in February.
Production has been at a standstill since mid-March.
Most employment contracts expire at the end of April due to short notice periods.
The company posted a significant loss last year, citing strong competition from cheap solar modules from China as the reason.
Subsidies in solar module production in China have led to a serious market distortion, explained managing director Gunter Erfurt.
According to the company, the factory in Freiberg is the largest solar module production company in Europe.
Green politician speaks of an “industrial policy low blow”
The Green politician Günther spoke of an “industrial policy low blow” and blamed the FDP.
“With temporary, very manageable sums, a strategically important industry could have been secured.” Now there needs to be a perspective for the remaining manufacturers in Saxony.
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For the traditional Freiberg location - and also the East German solar industry - the final end is a second major setback: In 2018, Germany's once largest solar module manufacturer, Solarworld, finally filed for bankruptcy and closed the Freiberg location with around 600 employees.
New hope arose when Meyer Burger started producing modules in 2021 and started new production in the former Solarworld halls.
Since the turn of the millennium, the solar industry has been a boom industry and job machine for around a decade and a half, especially in East Germany - also because of high levels of government support for sales.
According to previous information, in Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, around 14,000 people worked at times for solar cell and module manufacturers and a further 2,500 for photovoltaic suppliers.
dpa