SCHOTT solutions no. 2/2011 > Solar Energy

What will soon be a 15-member team of experts at SCHOTT Solar addresses primarily project developers, general contractors and strategic investors like utilities and independent power producers. The industrial on-roof business, greenfield installations and the electrification of rural areas all offer huge development potential.

”In the future, we are hoping to generate a significant share of SCHOTT Solar’s total sales through these sales channels,” says Burkhard Söhngen, Vice President of SCHOTT Solar Power Projects. In the meantime, generation of electricity in sunny regions with the help of photovoltaic power plants is already capable of competing with conventional ways of producing energy, even without any funding support. ”Nevertheless, photovoltaic power plants also make good sense for industrial customers in subsidized countries like Germany because they invest in a more secure supply and stable planning in the decades to come and also contribute to sustainability,” ­Soehngen explains. He also notes that markets in Germany ­remain attractive, thanks to the feed-in tariff called for by the Renewable Energy Sources Act, which still serves as an ­example for many countries.

Furthermore, the company is also following the solar market in Greece very closely and looking to Italy and Southeast ­Europe, Romania, Bulgaria, Central and South America as well as the United States. SCHOTT Solar Power Projects is inter­disciplinary in structure in order to be able to react to market demands more flexibly and quickly. The departments project development and sales, systems and technology, but also financing and structuring are all able to make use of SCHOTT ’s international sales network and local project developers.