Lower Saxony's Minister of Economic Affairs, Olaf Lies, wants to establish a production of solar systems with state participation in his state. "Our goal is to build up our own solar production capacities in Lower Saxony. We are currently examining this," said the SPD politician of the F.A.S.

Marcus Theurer

Editor in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

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The capacities would have to be in the gigawatt range for the project to make economic sense, he underlined. The aim is to reduce import dependency on Chinese solar module manufacturers.

"Strategic participation"

The state government not only wants to advertise to companies for the construction of solar factories, but also to participate in companies itself. "I can well imagine an entrepreneurial commitment of the state as a minority shareholder. It is better to participate strategically than just to provide funding for the settlement."

He sees the state's holdings in the Volkswagen car group and the steel manufacturer Salzgitter as role models. Lower Saxony has had "good experiences" with these shareholdings, said Lies. Above all, however, the strong political influence at Volkswagen has been controversial for many years.

In a first step, Economics Minister Lies wants to set up a production facility for the assembly of solar modules in his federal state. Later, the production of the solar cells themselves, as well as important components, so-called wafers, should follow.

Wind energy as a locational advantage

Lies sees the extensive generation of wind power in Lower Saxony as an important locational advantage. "We not only want to generate renewable electricity, but also have the climate-neutral industrial value creation that builds on it in our country," he underlined. "Solar module production is a great opportunity for this."

The Federal Government wants to greatly accelerate the expansion of solar power generation in Germany. By 2030, the installed capacity is to increase by 22 gigawatts annually to a total of 215 gigawatts. There are also high expansion targets in Lower Saxony. However, the solar modules required for this have so far largely come from Chinese production, which is considered risky in view of growing geopolitical tensions between the West and Asian economic power.

Europe is concerned that the Chinese government is currently considering restricting exports of key technologies for the solar industry. Experts warn that a possible Chinese export ban on solar equipment could slow down the energy transition in Europe. "We are almost completely dependent on one country, China. That's too risky for me," says Lower Saxony's Minister of Economic Affairs, Lies.

In the past, Germany has already had its own solar module industry. However, the companies were largely displaced by competition from Asia. The German manufacturer Solarworld, at times a leading company in the industry, filed for insolvency in 2016. The Swiss manufacturer Meyer Burger, on the other hand, now operates solar production in Saxony again.

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in Berlin and the EU Commission in Brussels are also working on a comeback of the domestic solar industry. This week, German Economics Minister Robert Habeck announced stronger government support for manufacturers of solar modules and wind turbines. "We must strengthen production capacities for renewable energies and power grids in Germany and Europe," said Habeck.