Solon SE was a German

solar energy Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an ...

company with headquarters in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

. Solon SE produced photovoltaic modules at its production sites in Greifswald (Germany, SOLON Nord GmbH), Steinach in Tirol (Austria, SOLON Hilber Technologie GmbH), Carmignano di Brenta (Italy, SOLON S.p.A., formerly known as S.E. Project s.r.l.), Tucson (USA, SOLON Corporation) and Berlin (Germany, SOLON Photovoltaik GmbH). Solon also offered turn-key solar power plants, projected by SOLON Inverstments (Freiburg, Germany) and Inverters, developed and produced by SOLON Inverters AG (Uznach, Switzerland, formerly known as asp AG). In 2008 Solon had a production capacity for photovoltaic modules of 450 MWp (2007: 210 MWp; 2006: 130 MWp) and with a production of 176 MWp (2007: 118 MWp; 2006: 84 MWp) Solon maintained to be one of the biggest module producer in Germany and Europe. Solon employed around 943 employees at the end of 2008 and achieved a turn over of 815,1 million € and a net profit of 30,9 million € (2007: 503,1 million € und 22,2 million €; 2006: 346,4 million € und 14,4 million €).

History

Solon was founded on 27 November 1996 by Saleh El-Khatib, Birgit Flore, Johannes Grosse Boymann, Paul Grunow,

Stefan Krauter Stefan Krauter (born 1963 in Göppingen, West Germany) is a German engineer working in renewable energy. He specializes in photovoltaics, the direct conversion of sunlight into electricity. He is a professor at the University of Paderborn. Ed ...

, Alexander Voigt, Wuseltronik GbR ( Reiner Lemoine, Stefan Fütterer, Peter Fischer, Martin Sauter, Jürgen Hiller). It went public in 1998 as the first solar energy company in Germany. It was listed in the

TecDAX The TecDAX stock index tracks the performance of the 30 largest German companies from the technology sector. In terms of order book turnover and market capitalization the companies rank below those included in the DAX. The TecDax was introduc ...

between 20 March 2006 and 21 September 2009 and since 2007 it was an

ÖkoDAX ÖkoDAX is a German stock market index which includes ten companies in the renewable energy sector. It was introduced on 4 June 2007. The constituting companies and their weightings are reviewed quarterly (March, June, September and December). The ...

constituent. On 2 December 2008, the Solon ''

Aktiengesellschaft (; abbreviated AG, ) is a German word for a corporation limited by share ownership (i.e. one which is owned by its shareholders) whose shares may be traded on a stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria, Switzerland (where it is equiva ...

'' (AG) became a

Societas Europaea A ''societas Europaea'' (, ; "European society" or "company"; plural: ; abbr. SE) is a public company registered in accordance with the corporate law of the European Union (EU), introduced in 2004 with the Council Regulation on the Statute fo ...

(SE). On 1 September 2006, the

Erlasee Solar Park The Erlasee Solar Park, or ''Solarstrompark Gut Erlasee'', is an 11.4 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic power station located in Bavaria, southern Germany, in one of the sunniest regions of the country. Constructed on a former vineyard by the company S ...

was dedicated, with 12 MW the currently largest

tracking Tracking may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Tracking, in computer graphics, in match moving (insertion of graphics into footage) * Tracking, composing music with music tracker software * Eye tracking, measuring the position of ...

photovoltaic Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially ...

solar park. It was constructed by Solon. On 13 December 2011, Solon filed for bankruptcy. In 2011 the leftovers were overtaken in 2012 by the

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

n Microsol and in 2014 the company was moved to

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

Activities in the United States

SOLON Corporation, a fully owned subsidiary of Solon SE for the North American market, has been producing solar panels at its plant in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black

ill ILL may refer to: * ''I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom * Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland * Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility * Interlibrar ...

, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive ...

since October 2007. Initially the panels were for its own project to supply electricity to

Pima County Pima County ( ) is a county in the south central region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,043,433, making it Arizona's second-most populous county. The county seat is Tucson, where most of the populatio ...

and for export back to Europe. In December 2008, the world's largest CIGS thin-film solar array went live in Tucson. SOLON Corporation produced and installed the photovoltaic modules and designed the array. Since an agreement with

American Solar Electric American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

, in January 2009 the company started to expand to the residential market in Arizona.

Notes and references

External links

Company homepage
{{Authority control Solar energy companies of Germany Manufacturing companies based in Berlin Photovoltaics manufacturers