Solarwatt focuses on complete energy solutions

After the end of the production of solar modules and battery storage systems in Dresden, Solarwatt intends to focus on offering complete solutions for energy supply in the future. The aim is to combine the areas of electricity, heat and mobility into one system, as Managing Director Benjamin Frank explained in Dresden. "We are evolving from an industrial company into a solution provider," he said.

Under the name "Solarwatt Home", the company intends to offer a product package in future that combines the necessary components for the energy supply. This includes solar panels, inverters, battery storage, wall charging stations for electric cars and a hardware manager. The system will supply the cheapest energy available at any given time. Artificial intelligence is used to calculate how the energy from the solar system is used and when electricity should ideally be purchased from the grid, explained Peter Bachmann.

The products are manufactured by contract manufacturers in Asia. According to Frank, the company works with partners there who meet its own quality and development standards.

Solarwatt cuts 500 jobs

The new strategy is accompanied by extensive job cuts. Frank spoke of a year of transformation. Of the 850 employees that Solarwatt employed worldwide in 2023, only 350 are to remain in 2025 - this corresponds to a reduction of almost 60 percent of jobs. The company recently announced that it would reduce its workforce in Germany from 650 to 500 employees.

"We had to make deeper cuts than we had imagined in the middle of the year," said Frank. According to the information provided, half of the jobs to be cut relate to production, with the remainder spread across all areas of the company.

The Dresden-based company was founded in 1993. According to its own figures, Solarwatt has installed more than 700,000 photovoltaic systems in Europe, the majority of which are in Germany. After achieving a turnover of 330 million euros in 2023, the company is expecting 130 million euros for the current year and 150 million euros for 2025, according to Frank. The production of solar modules and batteries in Dresden was discontinued this year.