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15.01.2008, SCHOTT Solar GmbH

Winner of Solar Decathlon at Deubau

SCHOTT Solar thin film modules supply energy for award-winning TU Darmstadt house

Essen/Alzenau, January 7, 2007 – TU Darmstadt will be showing just how energy efficient a building can be at this year’s Deubau Construction Trade Fair in Essen. The University will be displaying their house, which has won the international Solar Decathlon 2007, for the first time in Germany in Hall 3. SCHOTT Solar GmbH, one of the sponsors supporting the project, supplied the photovoltaic thin film plates used on the façade of the house to generate energy.

Twenty universities took part in the "Solar Decathlon" competition for solar-powered houses posted by the US Department of Energy. TU Darmstadt, the only German university whose application was accepted, went on to win first prize. The team, headed up by Professor Manfred Hegger, decided to use a sun-tracking system based on ASI® OEM raw plates from SCHOTT Solar. These standard OEM thin film components were also chosen for integration into this innovative architectural piece from the cost perspective.

“We’re happy for the TU Darmstadt team and warmly congratulate them on this major success. It shows just how successful innovative architecture can be when based on existing industrial products” comments Roland Neuner, SCHOTT Solar GmbH Sales Manager PV Building Solutions.

The Solar Decathlon is an architectural and energy technology competition sponsored by the US Department of Energy. The participating college and university finalists are showing their solar-powered houses for three weeks at the National Mall in Washington D.C.

The first competition took place in September/October 2002, the next one in September/October 2005, with the third competition being held in October 2007. The 2007 winner is the Technical University of Darmstadt, followed by the University of Maryland and Santa Clara University.

Further information on the competition:

SCHOTT Solar GmbH is a leading manufacturer of wafers, cells and modules in the photovoltaic sector. for photovoltaic generation of energy. Combining innovation and quality, SCHOTT Solar effectively utilizes the potential of the sun as an inexhaustible source of energy. The company, headquartered in Alzenau in Bavaria, employs a staff of around 900 worldwide, about 10 percent of whom are employed in research and development. SCHOTT Solar’s history dates back to the first use of photovoltaics in the late 1950s.Today the company’s production facilities in Germany include Alzenau, Jena and Putzbrunn near Munich, and it also produces in the Czech republic and the USA. As a daughter company of the SCHOTT group of Mainz, Germany, SCHOTT Solar GmbH profits from the economic and technological capabilities of its strong parent company.

SCHOTT is an international technology group that sees its core purpose as the lasting improvement of living and working conditions. For this purpose special materials, components and systems are developed. The main areas of focus are the household appliances industry, optics and opto-electronics, pharmaceuticals and solar energy. The SCHOTT Group has a presence in proximity to its customers through its production and sales companies in all its major markets. It has approximately 16,800 employees producing worldwide sales of approximately 2,2 billion euros. The company’s technological and economic expertise is closely linked with its social and ecological responsibility.

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