More German PV Pain at Solar Developer Phoenix Solar

Live by feed-in tariff, die by feed-in tariff. The death rattle of the German solar industry continues. Today’s casualty is Phoenix Solar.

Eric Wesoff April 03, 2012

Eric Wesoff

Editor-at-Large
Greentech Media

Eric Wesoff is Editor-at-Large at Greentech Media. Prior to joining GTM, Eric Wesoff founded Sage Marketing Partners in 2000 to provide sales and marketing-consulting services to venture-capital firms and their portfolio companies in the alternative energy and telecommunications sectors. Mr. Wesoff has become a well-known, respected authority and speaker in these fields.

His expertise covers solar power, fuel cells, biofuels and advanced batteries. His strengths are in market research and analysis, business development and due diligence for investors. He frequently consults for energy startups and Silicon Valley's premier venture capitalists.

This is what a solar shakeout looks like. This is also the last breath of what was once Germany's solar dominance.

Yesterday we reported that Q-Cells, Germany's -- and once the globe's -- largest solar manufacturer, was on the brink of bankruptcy. The once-dominant solar company lost hundreds of millions of dollars in the last year.

Last week we reported the bankruptcy of thin-film manufacturer Odersun. That follows the failure of CSP developer Solar Millennium and crystalline silicon module supplier Solon in December of last year.

Now a German solar integrator is about to fall.

Phoenix Solar, a Bavaria-based solar project integrator and developer, has become the latest casualty in the German solar industry. It's rarely a positive sign when a firm must delay its annual report.

Here's the English translation of the bad news from the Phoenix Solar website.

Owing to considerable cuts in the feed-in tariffs for solar power in several key markets of Phoenix Solar AG, the restructuring plan submitted to the financing parties in December 2011, which also included the business development envisaged for the coming years, has had to be adjusted in recent weeks. As a result, the financing negotiations of Phoenix Solar AG (ISIN DE000A0BVU93, Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange) have been delayed. The moratorium agreed with the syndicate banks and other bilateral lenders and guarantors, as well as trade credit insurers, was extended at the end of March to allow financing negotiations to continue on the basis of the adjusted restructuring plan. In view of these circumstances, the release of the financial report and annual report 2011 has been postponed, most likely for a few weeks. Similarly, the publication of the quarterly reports on the first quarter of 2012, scheduled for 10 May 2012, is also likely to take place at a later date.

Phoenix prospered during Germany's high-feed-in-tariff era, installing more than a gigawatt of PV in Germany and elsewhere. The company sold turnkey PV power plants, modules, and mounting systems. The company also designed and developed solar power plants.

Here's the sad stock price tale of Phoenix Solar: