Last week, you may have seen reports in newspapers and on TV that the Chinese authorities had closed a factory of Jinko Solar Holding Co. Ltd. in the Eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang because of several days of public unrest (see report BBC under http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14968605).

As the factory itself says, it produces mono- and poly-crystalline solar modules, wafers and solar cells. Days earlier, because of massive environmental pollution, several thousands of inhabitants of the city of Hongxoa had stormed the factory premises and had damaged offices and vehicles before the police intervened. The unrests had been preceded by the wide-spread deaths of fish in a nearby river. Inhabitants also hold the factory responsible for the increased occurrence of cancer diseases in the local community.

Jinko Solar itself confirms the closure of the factory and explains that after first investigations, evidence had been found of the improper storage of fluoride-containing waste.

Unfortunately, reported instances like this can damage the entire PV industry. In view of this, SolarWorld AG feel that it is particularly important to make clear for the benefit of our customers, the differences between our quality and production standards and theirs.

In the international solar market Jinko Solar has for years been among the Chinese companies who, with state support, have pursued an aggressive pricing policy in the market. What this cost-cutting approach can lead to, and who will have to pay the price, is now very visible with the tragic consequences widely reported by the international press in the last few days.

SolarWorld AG adopts an entirely different approach to its business and operates all of its production facilities with only the highest quality, environmental standards and safe working conditions for its employees.

Since the middle of this year production has been concentrated exclusively in Germany and the US. In doing so, we differentiated ourselves from competitors who shifted their production to Asia because of allegedly lower wage costs. SolarWorld AG achieved its consistent cost reductions, not by lowering standards, cutting corners or reducing the company’s attention to environmental responsibilities but through continued investment in the most advanced equipment. By highly automating production and optimising materials handling and logistics, labour costs in SolarWorld’s manufactured products amount to less than ten percent of the production costs - so they are never a crucial factor in determining our pricing policy. We prefer to rely instead on the best expertise developing and running the best production facilities – this way, we are always improving and always maintaining the top SolarWorld quality for which we are known.

Carsten Pattberg
Head of Export
SolarWorld AG