SolarWorld Boss Sees Major Potential in Qatar Frank Asbeck Accompanies Chancellor Merkel to the Arab Peninsula

04-10-10

On the Arab Peninsula the importance of solar power as a clean, safe and sustainable source of energy is growing. The Chairman and CEO of German SolarWorld AG, Frank H. Asbeck, is expecting a strong expansion of photovoltaic technology in this sun-pampered region. Asbeck is accompanying the Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel within the framework of a business delegation. The four-day trip by the Chancellor through the Gulf States – United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar – is designed to intensify existing German-Arab industry contacts and to initiate new business relations. While in the past solar-thermal solutions were mainly considered for the Gulf region the mature photovoltaic technology for the direct conversion of sunlight into electricity is coming more and more to the fore. In Qatar the solar technology group has taken a first step in order to establish itself in the region: In a joint venture with the Qatar Foundation and the Qatar Development Bank a production facility for high-purity poly-silicon is being created. Electricity required for this will be generated by natural gas. With silicon as a raw material SolarWorld will produce highly efficient solar wafers and cells in Germany and in the US. For SolarWorld quality modules the group gives a performance warranty for 25 years. “With the production of the poly-silicon the energy reach of the natural gas will virtually be increased by a factor of 25,” says Frank H. Asbeck, who is also having talks in Qatar about large-scale projects to generate solar power. “In this region the change from the age of the finite energies to the age of the infinite energies is beginning right at the source in every sense of the word.”

About SolarWorld AG

The SolarWorld AG Group (ISIN: DE0005108401) is a worldwide leader in offering brand-name high quality, crystalline solar power technology. Its strength is its fully integrated solar production. From silicon as the raw material via wafers, cells and modules all the way to turn-key solar systems including recycling the group combines all the stages of the solar value chain. The central business activity is selling quality modules to the specialist trade and crystalline wafers to the international solar cell industry. Group headquarters are located in Bonn/Germany. Production sites are to be found in Germany, the USA and South Korea. The largest production facilities are operated by the group in Freiberg/Germany and in Hillsboro/USA. Sustainability is the basis of the group strategy. Under the name of Solar2World the group supports care projects using off-grid solar power solutions in emerging economies and developing countries, exemplary of sustainable economic development. Worldwide, SolarWorld employs more than 2,700 people. Since 1999 SolarWorld AG has been quoted on the stock exchange, among others in the technology index TecDAX, ÖkoDAX, Dow Jones STOXX 600, the international MSCI Index as well as in the sustainability indices DAXglobal Alternative Energy and NAI.

Contact SolarWorld AG

Contact Press: Phone: +49 228/55920-409,
E-Mail: press(at)solarworld(dot)de
Contact Investor Relations: Phone: +49 228/55920-470,

placement(at)solarworld(dot)de
www.solarworld.de