DGAP-News: Centrosolar Group AG: Protest campaign - stop solar cuts!
(firmenpresse) - DGAP-News: Centrosolar Group AG / Key word(s): Miscellaneous
Centrosolar Group AG: Protest campaign - stop solar cuts!
23.02.2012 / 13:52
---------------------------------------------------------------------
CORPORATE NEWS
Protest campaign - stop solar cuts!
- Thousands of jobs in Germany at risk
- Centrosolar protests against slashing of feed-in tariffs for solar
power by symbolically closing plant
Munich / Wismar, February 23, 2012 - On behalf of the entire workforce of
CENTROSOLAR, the employees of Centrosolar Sonnenstromfabrik in Wismar today
symbolically closed their plant to protest against the radical cuts to
financial incentives for solar power that are being proposed by certain
members of the German Government. Federal Minister of Economics Rösler
(FDP) and a number of economic policymakers within its coalition partner
are currently calling for the
financial incentive for new solar power systems to be capped at a fraction
of the previous level of new installations. Such trenchant cutbacks would
endanger around 1,000 jobs in Germany at CENTROSOLAR alone.
Over 300 placard-waving workers from the solar module facility in Wismar
called upon Economics Minister Rösler to abandon the planned cuts. They
pointed out that any proposals for cuts over and above those already
approved would be tantamount to abolishing the Renewable Energies Act (EEG)
and would prompt the German solar industry to move elsewhere. Alexander
Kirsch, CEO of CENTROSOLAR Group AG, warned: 'We already witnessed such a
scorched-earth approach four years ago in Spain. Since then, that country
has dwindled into insignificance as a photovoltaic market.'
The draft presented by Federal Minister of Economics Philipp Rösler and
Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen envisages cuts of 20 and 30 % for
small-scale and large-scale systems respectively. It also proposes limiting
the feed-in tariff to only a portion of the power generated by a system,
the own consumption bonus is to be abolished and there are furthermore
plans to reduce the tariff gradually on a month-by-month basis. All in all,
this draft legislation envisages cuts well in excess of 30 % for
small-scale systems and 40 % for larger installations.
These drastic additional cutbacks are coming in for harsh criticism from
the solar industry. It states that their introduction will inevitably cause
a slump in the market and destroy much of the solar industry in Germany, on
which well more than 100,000 jobs now depend. The move will destroy the
very fabric of a German growth industry beyond recovery. These planned cuts
also demonstrate that the government is not serious about its scheme to
shift the emphasis towards renewables.
Ralf Hennigs, Managing Director of Centrosolar Sonnenstromfabrik, one of
Europe's biggest PV module plants, voiced his perplexity: 'The national
politicians are always eager to drop in for press photos. And now they in
effect want to abolish the EEG. How are we supposed to accomplish a sea
change on energy without solar technology?'
The cost argument often used against financial incentives for solar energy
is moreover wrong. Although the payments for solar power have previously
been well above the market price, the fact that the feed-in tariffs have
been more than halved over the past three years alone means that cuts in
new photovoltaic installations would no longer have any major impact on the
EEG levy. One alarming aspect of Rösler's proposals is that he is spurning
this environmentally friendly, non-central form of power generation on the
roof of every house at the very time when solar power is distinctly cheap.
In staging their protest, Centrosolar AG's employees are appealing to
politicians to protect jobs in Germany's solar industry, and to implement
the cuts to financial incentives for solar power much more slowly than
proposed by Economics Minister Rösler.
Around 50 solar businesses throughout Germany took part in the
demonstration.
CENTROSOLAR: photovoltaics 'Made in Germany'
Centrosolar AG, with locations in Hamburg, Paderborn and Kempten im Allgäu,
is a fully-owned subsidiary of the listed company CENTROSOLAR Group AG. The
CENTROSOLAR Group is one of the world's leading suppliers of solar
integrated systems for roofs and solar key components, with more than 1,000
employees and annual revenue approaching EUR 300 million (provisional
figure for 2011). Export business generates around 60 % of its revenue.
There are subsidiaries in Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, the UK,
Switzerland, the Netherlands, the USA and Canada.
The group manufactures its quality solar modules with the 'Made in Germany'
cachet at its own production plant in Wismar, in Mecklenburg-Western
Pomerania. This facility, Centrosolar Sonnenstromfabrik, is one of the
largest module manufacturing plants in Europe with an annual capacity of
350 MWp, and has developed into the region's most important employer within
just a few years. The CENTROSOLAR Group also has production locations for
solar glass (overall capacity: 8 million m²glass) in Fürth, Germany, and
since 2011 in Huzhou, China, where considerable PV production capacity has
been created in recent years with state support.
For more information, please contact:
MetaCom Corporate Communications GmbH
Georg Biekehör
tel.: +49 (0)6181 9828030
0-mail: g.biekehoer(at)go-metacom.de
End of Corporate News
---------------------------------------------------------------------
23.02.2012 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a
company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
DGAP's Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements,
Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.
Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Language: English
Company: Centrosolar Group AG
Walter-Gropius-Str. 15
80807 München
Germany
Phone: +49 (0)89 20 1800
Fax: +49 (0)89 20 180 555
E-mail: info(at)centrosolar.com
Internet: http://www.centrosolar-group.de
ISIN: DE0005148506
WKN: 514850
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard);
Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, München, Stuttgart
End of News DGAP News-Service
---------------------------------------------------------------------
157853 23.02.2012
Themen in dieser Pressemitteilung:
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Bereitgestellt von Benutzer: EquityStory
" alt="Cuoro Commences Down-Hole Geophysical Survey at Santa Elena Project, Colombia
Datum: 23.02.2012 - 13:52 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 117823
Anzahl Zeichen: 4326
contact information:
Kategorie:
Business News
Diese Pressemitteilung wurde bisher 257 mal aufgerufen.
Die Pressemitteilung mit dem Titel:
"DGAP-News: Centrosolar Group AG: Protest campaign - stop solar cuts!"
steht unter der journalistisch-redaktionellen Verantwortung von
Centrosolar Group AG (Nachricht senden)
Beachten Sie bitte die weiteren Informationen zum Haftungsauschluß (gemäß TMG - TeleMedianGesetz) und dem Datenschutz (gemäß der DSGVO).
