SMA breaks ground on new gigawatt factory in North Hessen
Leading global photovoltaic and storage technology specialist doubles capacity and sets new sustainability standards with a new 20-gigawatt facility.
SMA Solar Technology AG, a leading global photovoltaic and storage systems technology specialist, began constructing a new 20-gigawatt factory on the Sandershäuserberg in Niestetal in North Hessen. The EUR 80 million facility will double the company’s capacity from 20 to 40 gigawatts and create more than 200 jobs in the region.
The company has placed great emphasis on sustainability in the new building, combining sustainable, resource-conserving building materials and methods with high-efficiency operations. The facility will be constructed according to the climate-friendly energy efficiency standard KfW 40 E and certified according to the DGNB’s gold standard. SMA will also fit the building’s roof with its own photovoltaic system.
To integrate solar power into global infrastructures in the future, photovoltaics will need to be part of an intelligent network. SMA is building capacity now to prepare for that future.
“Against the background of global climate change, the entire world is pinning its hopes on renewable energy,” said SMA CEO Jürgen Reinert. “But to leverage this enormous potential, photovoltaics has to be intelligently coupled with storage systems, e-mobility, and other sectors and integrated into the overall system. This is why we will be producing system solutions for large-scale photovoltaic power plants in two years here in Niestetal and shipping them out across the world. In this way, we will be making a vital contribution right here in this region to a future-proof energy supply.”