{"id":16847,"date":"2017-11-22T11:59:05","date_gmt":"2017-11-22T01:29:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=16847"},"modified":"2018-03-29T07:24:02","modified_gmt":"2018-03-28T20:54:02","slug":"solarworld-ag-is-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solarworld-ag-is-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"SolarWorld AG Is Dead — Long Live SolarWorld Industries GmbH"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SolarWorld Descended From Celestial Heights Into A World Of Pain But Rises Anew Like A Phoenix From The Ashes<\/p><\/div>\n

Those of you who have German made SolarWorld panels on your roofs or are thinking of getting some, may be wondering about what’s happened with the company since they filed for bankruptcy<\/a> in May this year.<\/p>\n

Well, SolarWorld AG, consisting of SolarWorld in Europe and its shares in subsidiaries in Africa and Asia — but not the United States — is no more.\u00a0 It went bankrupt and was bought out by a group of investors and brought back from the dead as SolarWorld Industries GmbH.<\/p>\n

Actually, it wasn’t quite dead.\u00a0 While the ability to turn a profit had long since died, the body — or bodies — continued moving.\u00a0 The company was bought as an ongoing concern and never stopped producing panels.\u00a0 This was good for the 515 employees who kept their jobs but not so useful for the 1,200 who got the boot1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n

The good news is SolarWorld has taken on the obligation of supporting the old SolarWorld’s panel warranties.\u00a0 This is not directly relevant to Australian panel owners as SolarWorld doesn’t have an office in this country, which means the importer of the panels is responsible for their warranties.\u00a0 But if the importer is supported by SolarWorld then they are less likely to go bust themselves and still be around in the future.<\/p>\n

An interesting thing about the phoenixing2<\/a><\/sup> of SolarWorld is one of the major investors was the Qatar Foundation<\/a> which, not surprisingly, is based in Qatar.\u00a0 Its goal is to help the country kick its hydrocarbon habit, which is a very good idea.<\/p>\n

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His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, founder of the Qatar Foundation.<\/p><\/div>\n

But what is really interesting is the leader of the merry band of investors who bought out the bankrupt SolarWorld AG and who will be running the joint, was Dr Frank Asbeck — the original founder of SolarWorld and the only CEO its ever had.\u00a0 So maybe things aren’t changing all that much.\u00a0 At least not for the 30% of the workforce that are still employed.<\/p>\n

I can understand if people have reservations about him running the company, since it did go bankrupt, but, looking on the bright side, he has probably figured out what he did wrong the first time around.\u00a0 Judging from his public announcements<\/a> he believes his mistake was to start the company in a world where competition exists.<\/p>\n

US SolarWorld Is Doing Its Own Thing<\/h2>\n

The US SolarWorld subsidiary — SolarWorld Industries Americas — was not part of the buyout and is now a separate US entity.\u00a0 Its assets consists of a solar panel manufacturing plant with 500 megawatts capacity in Oregon<\/a>, the Dysentery State3<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0 It was put up for sale<\/a> and may still be available if you’re interested.<\/p>\n

SolarWorld Industries Americas has been a major force in pushing for increased tariffs<\/a> on solar panels imported into the US, so indirectly they are working to keep the price of solar panels low in Australia, but as far as I am aware, they have no direct business involvement with Australia at all.<\/p>\n

The “Sun King” Frank Asbeck<\/h2>\n

Dr Frank Asbeck founded a company in 1988 that became the original SolarWorld 10 years later.\u00a0 He was nicknamed the “Sun King” after French Monarch Louis the 14th<\/a>, who holds the record of becoming King and then not dying for the longest period of time in European History.\u00a0 (His grandson’s attempt to beat his record was cut short<\/a>.)\u00a0 The nickname is probably a good one, considering that he bought a castle<\/a> in 2013 for around 10 million dollars.<\/p>\n

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I don’t see any solar panels on that roof! (Image Credit: Sudkurier — which I can only guess is a German publication devoted to soap suds.)<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2012, due to intense competition, Dr Frank Asbeck announced he would no longer receive his half a million euro salary until the company returned to profitability<\/a>.\u00a0 This is interesting, because despite the company eventually going bankrupt due to a lack of profitability, he apparently received<\/a> one million dollars compensation last year4<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n