“Solar Energy Is Produced Right at the Consumer’s Own Home”

The need for energy is growing world-wide. The finite supplies of fuels such as oil and gas are therefore becoming increasingly dear. Solar energy is a first-rate alternative not only for developing countries. German technology in this field is setting the pace. An interview with successful solar businessman Frank Asbeck.

Electricity, the “powerhouse” of the modern economy, has many sources. What are the advantages of solar electricity?

Photovoltaic, the conversion of radiant energy into direct energy, is the only kind of energy generation that can be comprehensively and stably produced right at the consumer’s own home. Solar electricity is emission-free, and so unlike coal and gas releases no climate killer. In contrast to atomic energy, solar energy is completely safe for man and environment. Because solar electricity can be generated everywhere in the world, import of energy carriers from conflict states falls away. Likewise, there is no need to go to war over the sun. In many regions of the world, photovoltaic offers the only option for the provision of basic supplies and for economic development.

The reputation of other kinds of renewable energy has recently suffered considerably in comparison with energy production from renewable raw materials such as maize. As an agricultural engineer, what is your view of agriculture as a source of energy?

As with everything else in life, the use of bio energy can be done rightly or wrongly. The production of palm oil or genetic soya on areas of former rain forest, for example, is totally unacceptable. I find it good that more and more producers of bio fuel have pledged not to use such palm oil imports. The big mineral oil firms, however, don’t usually care where they get the bio fuel for their mixtures: the main thing is that it’s cheap. In this, by the way, they are no different from the food companies.

“I was looked upon as a complete crank”

In the mid-1990s you already wanted to build in Bonn the biggest solar energy station in the world? How did the idea go down?

I was looked upon as a complete crank. Back then, almost nobody could even spell “photovoltaic” correctly. And almost nobody, least of all the credit institutions, wanted to believe that electricity could be generated from sand (that is, silicon) and sun.

In Germany, solar electricity is still subsidised by the state. When will it become competitively viable?

That’s primarily a question of geography. In Africa, electricity from a diesel generator costs double as much as solar energy. In Europe, it is still more expensive than electricity generated from fossil fuels. Through productivity growth, we have been lowering our costs every year. By 2015, in Germany too electricity from the roof will be cheaper than electricity out of socket.

What sort of productivity growth?

We’ve been lowering the costs at all levels of added value. That ranges from silicon production to the production of high-grade wafers and cells and the recycling of raw materials in our own recycling company.

Why is your business in particular so successful?

Because we have integrated all stages of the production process, from raw materials to the system on the roof. Our strong points are independence and sustainability. We have also profited along the entire chain of value generation from the results of our research and development work. Moreover, my co-workers have fun in their jobs and in the conviction that they are doing something meaningful. There is more potential for business success in that than in the orientation on mere economic figures.

A thousand square kilometres of usable roof space

Where do you see solar energy in 2020?

In Germany we have about a thousand square kilometres of the best usable roof space at our disposal. If we have developed about half of it by 2020, we could already cover more than a third of German domestic electric consumption. In Europe as a whole, more than ten percent of the total generation of electric power could be covered by solar energy. In America we already see strong growth here. I hope that solar energy will also enable sustainable economic development in the non-industrialised world, and am very engaged in this effort.

What is your attitude towards climate protection in your own life? After all, there is a Maserati parked in front of your door.

I heat my own house with geothermal energy and generate electricity with hydropower. The Maserati was a childhood dream. I admit my contradictions. Maybe they make me credible because they’re so obvious.

At the end of his twenties, Frank H. Asbeck (49) founded his own engineering office, and in 1998 the SolarWorld AG. As sole manager, he made his business (with headquarter in Bonn) into one of the three biggest apparatus construction firms for solar electricity in the world, with manufacturing sites in Europe, Africa, North America and South East Asia. Subsidiary companies cover all stages of production and value generation, from silicon, a basic material made of sand, to the finished solar power station. At the same time, his entrepreneurial engagement has a political tinge. In 1980, Asbeck was one of the founders of the particularly environmentally aware party “The Greens” (today The Alliance ‘90/The Greens). Seven years later, he withdrew from active politics. Since 2005, Asbeck has sponsored the SolarWorld Einstein Award for trail-blazing achievements in the area of regenerative energy. The first recipient of the award was Klaus Töpfer, General Director of the Environment Programme of the United Nations and former German Environment Minister.

The interview was conducted by Hermann Horstkotte.
He is an education and science journalist for, among others, Spiegel Online and is based in Bonn.

Translation: Jonathan Uhlaner
Copyright: Goethe-Institut e.V., Online-Redaktion