This year has passed so quickly! Just before Christmas, we look back on an exciting year 2023. In this post, we review our most important news and events and share with you what has moved us particularly.
January to March
The year began with the commissioning of two large solar parks in Hungary. With the grid connection of the two parks in the municipalities of Gerjen and Söjtör with nominal outputs of 51 and 45 megawatts peak, another milestone for the energy transition in Hungary was reached.
A lot was going on, especially in February and March, because during this time we were on the road at some international solar fairs. Our colleagues were at the Genera in Spain, at the ENEX in Poland, the Solar Solutions in the Netherlands as well as in Austria at the Energiesparmesse Wels and the PV Tagung Bern in Switzerland. There we were able to present our portfolio and follow the latest market trends live.
April to June
In spring, we had a very special visit: The SolarButterfly, a solar-powered Tiny House in the shape of a butterfly, made a stop in Bad Staffelstein on its world tour. The SolarButterfly presented itself to students from the region, to inspire their own actions in the field of climate protection and to show that many solutions against climate change are already available and the transformation is underway.
We were also able to commission a solar park in our region this year. In Sand am Main, the energy transition project with citizen participation was connected to the grid with a capacity of 9.6 megawatts peak. The solar park in the Lower Franconian district of Haßberge will generate about 10,200 megawatt hours of sustainable electricity from solar energy per year. This covers the annual electricity demand of about 3,500 3-person households.
The highlight of the solar year was of course again the Intersolar, the largest European solar fair, which took place from June 14 to 16 in Munich. This year’s highlights included innovations in the field of our in-house mounting systems including a testing area for trying out as well as live module tests on the load table of the SUNLAB test laboratory. As last year, we were able to underline our focus on sustainability with a trade fair stand according to the Cradle to Cradle design principle, which we are very proud of.
July to September
In July, we were able to support the DGS Solar School with the delivery of PV components for assembly training. The training courses at the Education and Technology Center in Nuremberg are organized by the Franconian State Association of the German Society for Solar Energy (DGS) in partnership with the Chamber of Crafts (HWK) for Central Franconia and prepare newcomers for the solar industry to counteract the shortage of skilled workers in the region. And of course, we are happy to support this.
A highlight in the summer was our trip to one of our solar parks, which will yield more in the future due to a subsequent coating. Especially older solar parks, which were built before 2013/14, can produce 3-4% more electricity through the new method. You can read everything about this topic in our blog post.
As part of our cooperation with the inverter manufacturer Solplanet, we were also able to commission a testing system in a very special location: In the old freight station in Lichtenfels. Everything about this great project can be found here.
October to December
At the end of the year, there is a major change in our management. Udo Möhrstedt, PV pioneer and founder of IBC SOLAR, is stepping down from the executive board and moving to the supervisory board. Dr Dirk Haft, who has already been working with us as Co-CEO since October 2022 and was previously on the supervisory board, will take over as CEO in the new year. Of course, we wish him all the best for his new tasks!
In addition, we are pleased to announce some great news from Switzerland at the turn of the year. From 2024 onward, we will take over our long-standing partner Fankhauser Solar AG 100%. We are looking forward to making photovoltaics the most important renewable energy source with our Swiss colleagues.
You can see that 2023 was quite an eventful year for us at IBC SOLAR. We are looking forward to the coming year with excitement and joy. But now, first of all, happy holidays and a wonderful new year to all our readers.