IMAGINE THE ENERGY Gehrlicher Solar AG plans, builds, finances, and operates photovoltaic systems. Abigail Saltmarsh looks at the company, which is seeing international growth for its photovoltaics business.
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Gehrlicher Solar AG, internationalisation is one of the cornerstones for the future in photovoltaics. The company, which was founded in 1994, has seen steady international growth in recent years, as it has spread its operation beyond Germany to set up subsidiaries and joint ventures in Brazil, France, the UK, India, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Turkey and the USA. “Gehrlicher Solar employs around 250 people worldwide and generated a total of €323 million in sales in fiscal year 2011,” explains senior global marketing manager Ms Seifried. 128 Industry Europe
“In fact, in the last few years we have been expanding and still are expanding in other countries and markets worldwide. So internationalisation is one of the keywords. But in the future, PV has to become competitive without feed-in tariffs worldwide.”
Internally developed innovative systems The company, which was founded in 1994 remains a family business, develops, plans, builds, finances and operates solar power systems. It is still managed by its founder,
Klaus Gehrlicher, who is widely considered one of the pioneers of the German photovoltaic industry. In 1998, he initiated Solarpark 2000, the first Community Equity Solar Fund, and, as CEO, he takes responsibility for all developments of the company. Today, Gehrlicher Solar’s products include everything from photovoltaic systems suitable for private homes up to multi-megawatt systems that can be mounted on the ground or on roofs. Alongside traditional systems for roof-top and ground-mounted systems, the