Management Report
Meyer Burger has successfully ramped its first solar cell and module production capacities. A total of 321 mega-watts (MW) modules was produced in 2022. At the same time the company also has successfully positioned its high-performance products in the European and U.S. markets.
A milestone is the completion of a long-term supply agreement with the U.S. renewable-energy developer D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI). Under the agreement, Meyer Burger expects to deliver between 3.75 and 5 GW of solar modules into utility-scale solar projects over an approximately five-year time span, which starts in 2024.
In 2022, Meyer Burger has continued building a powerful marketing and sales organization, hiring experts in their fields. Alongside the European markets, Meyer Burger started supplying the US market in Q2, 2022. With close to 40 employees in field and inside sales and with representatives in all the major markets in Europe and the USA, the company currently sells to 15 markets worldwide and is ready to scale the announced annual output via the established distribution channels.
Supply bottlenecks of system-relevant individual components, which had to be procured externally, remain a challenge of the further ramp-up of production. So far, all components could be procured, occasionally there were time delays.
In the context of the rapidly growing global demand for solar energy, there is an increasing focus from customers and policy makers to diversify the production of solar cells and modules. Meyer Burger sees itself well positioned to benefit from these trends as one of the few currently established photovoltaic (PV) cell and module manufacturers outside of Asia. The Company expects to capitalize on its proprietary technology and its roadmap of innovative products.
The Meyer Burger world of tomorrow is being created in western Switzerland. Researchers are using pilot plants to manufacture new products that will further increase the efficiency and yield of the solar modules. As always at Meyer Burger, the equipment comes from the company's own machine development department in Saxony. Here, the delivery of a new machine in March 2023.
To ensure high product quality, high-quality measurements are required at many points throughout production – from wafer inspection to final inspection of the finished solar module. Pasan in Neuchâtel develops these measurement systems for Meyer Burger.
Part of the former logistics center has been converted and now offers space for another 400 megawatts in Freiberg. Many machines are already standing and waiting to be awakened by the Meyer Burger engineers.
Full house: In the solar cell production facility in Thalheim, all machines are in place and produce hundreds of thousands of heterojunction solar cells every day.