How do you make the world’s best coating for your PV panels? How do you make solar cells more commercially competitive? How can you know you have great solutions for your end products from the start? Beneq, a company just starting to draw attention with its results, is focused specifically on being the best in its chosen niche sectors. Today, it offers a range of reliable and proven innovative thin film coating equipment for the PV and solar cell industry that helps European companies keep their lead with next generation technology.
Sunnier hopes for solar
Despite the gloom in the overall European market, there are numerous bright signs that solar power continues to move strongly ahead. Although market analysts feared for much lower numbers from 2011, the growth rates in solar, and especially in Europe, were much higher than anticipated, accounting for 75 per cent of all newly connected capacity in 2011 and about 75 per cent of the world’s total installed capacity.
As recently as May 25 and 26, 2012, Germany set a new world record by producing 22 GW of photovoltaic electricity, which was enough for Germany to cover one-third of its electricity needs for a normal working Friday, and half of the country’s mid-day needs on Saturday.
Germany has been leading the way. It has almost as much installed solar power generation capacity as the rest of the world combined and about four per cent of its annual overall energy production comes from the sun. And Italy is following close on Germany’s heels.
European companies to move behind a cloud?
“With such remarkable records, Germany will undoubtedly continue to pioneer the way in making solar power a viable renewable energy source,” says Sampo Ahonen, CEO of Beneq, “Still Germany, along with other major European players, needs to move quickly to next generation technology to maintain its global competitive advantage.”
Ahonen is quite explicit in his message to the European solar market: “You can’t stay in one place too long riding on the success of your existing technological accomplishments. You need to define the future – and do it now. Otherwise, there is no future. Those companies investing today in next generation technology will come out ahead.”
“We see the Chinese coming strongly to Europe, through acquisitions and also with their own products. European companies in the business can stay ahead of the game if they continue to be first in the market to embrace value-adding innovations and new ideas,” he says.
