PH OTOVOLTA I CS | EXPERIENCE
HERE COMES THE SUN Solar energy. Drastic losses in market earnings have made the past months difficult for the European photovoltaic industry. The good news? The global photovoltaic market is growing – as are smart partnerships such as that between Bonfiglioli and Rittal. Text: Thomas Schneidewind and Jürgen Jehle
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nfortunately, doing business with the sun, or photovoltaics (PV), also has its dark side. The European photovoltaic industry has learned this all too well in past years; beleaguered by cheap imports from East Asia, one company after another has declared bankruptcy. Milan Nitzschke, spokesman of EU ProSun, the joint initiative of EU solar companies, sums up the situation as follows: “China has adopted a five-year plan for its solar industry. Anyone who makes a solar panel in China receives state subsidies and can of course export much more cheaply.” As a result, more than 80 per cent of newly installed solar panels in Germany are from Asia. In contrast, Germany holds a leading position in power electronics for photovoltaic plants. But competition is continuously growing in this branch as well. One possible answer to this increased pressure is specialisation and concentration on global boom markets – and offering top-of-the-line service. Rittal and Bonfiglioli – both owner-operated businesses – have chosen precisely this path. Bonfiglioli, an expert in power inverters
SOLAR POWER FOR THE WORLD In 2012, around 30 gigawatt of solar power output was newly installed worldwide. The most important markets are in Europe, the United States and Asia.
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and high-tech electronic components, is cooperating with Rittal for its expertise in enclosure systems. Power inverters are a key element of solar panel systems. Because the electricity that comes out of wall sockets is alternating current, inverters are needed to convert the direct current produced by solar panels. Bonfiglioli entrusts its inverters to Rittal enclosures.
ter all, pressure to innovate in this market is high, and the competition is always quick to catch up to any technological advantage. That’s why Rittal’s cooperation with Bonfiglioli begins in the developmental stages. Engineers from both firms work
INCREASING PRESSURE TO INNOVATE Key to this partnership is the fact that Rittal and Bonfiglioli have a global presence. As an international company with eleven production sites in Europe, Asia and North America, Rittal is able to deliver goods to Bonfiglioli worldwide and to provide the same reliable service at each site. Bonfiglioli also needs a partner for its manufactured goods, a company that is present in nearly all markets to ensure that deliveries are quick and cost-efficient. “We act as a central contact for Bonfiglioli in all markets and can support our client in project management questions,” says Jan Oliver Kammesheidt, Rittal’s Global Market and Key Account Manager for Renewable Energies. Rittal has put together a team just for Bonfiglioli, which consists of employees from the most important sites and from many different departments. Joint efforts with Bonfiglioli now go far beyond the mere delivery of industrial enclosures. Af-
660 million euros; 3,500 employees) is one of the top ten manufacturers of power inverters. The global market share of the company, based in Bologna, is 5 per cent. Rittal provides 100 per cent of the enclosures for the central power inverters.
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Bonfiglioli (annual turnover
together on applications for the solar market. In the end, not only the inverters have to be state-of-the-art technology; the enclosures also must be adapted to the demands of solar industry clients. Climate control plays a key role here, because large solar parks – like Bonfiglioli’s 170-megawatt model project Centinela Solar Energy in Calexico, California – are usually found in places with 300 or more days of sun per year. At such
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