US firm Solar Swift has acquired the German plants of insolvent Swiss solar cell manufacturer Meyer Burger, the California-based company said on Thursday.
The two plants in the eastern towns of Hohenstein-Ernstthal and Bitterfeld near Leipzig were shut down last year after Meyer Burger filed for insolvency.
Some 600 workers in Germany and some 300 employees in the US lost their jobs after the firm declared insolvency in both countries, having struggled for years particularly due to Chinese competition.
Swift Solar said it has acquired “the core manufacturing assets and intellectual property from Meyer Burger” to speed up the “production of perovskite-silicon tandem solar technology in the US.”
“The US needs more solar, and we need it built here,” the company said in a statement.
“We’re combining German silicon manufacturing expertise with American perovskite technology leadership to build a company that can deliver not just one generation of solar technology, but many generations to follow.”
Swift Solar did not provide details on its exact plans for the German plants, but merely said that it aims to establish a Western production base for new solar technology.
The manufacture of solar cells remains the central bottleneck in the global supply chain of the solar industry, the company said, noting that production of highly efficient cells has so far been limited mainly to Asia.
The acquisition will give the company access to the relevant manufacturing technology, it said.