Social democratic party visits production facility of Sputnik Engineering AG in Biel, Switzerland
Around 80 politicians of the Swiss Social Democratic Party (SP) toured the new production facility of the Swiss manufacturer and took a look at the production of the SolarMax string inverters from up close. At first the party members went into the preparation area, where Sputnik’s production employees load transport wagons. Nearby in the assembly area, they then saw how the employees put four different string inverter models together from numerous individual components within 45 minutes. In addition, they found out how Sputnik tests safety and assembly quality with high-voltage and continuous load tests, and how the devices were packaged by means of a vacuum lifting device.
“I am very happy that there are such production plants in Switzerland”, says Margret Kiener Nellen, national councillor in the canton of Bern, after viewing the facilities. What impressed her the most was the expansion of Sputnik Engineering. Sputnik’s Managing Director Christoph von Bergen had explained the expansion strategy of his company in an accompanying talk. “Sputnik has founded a new subsidiary in nearly every year”, says Kiener Nellen.
Only about one percent of Sputnik’s devices are installed in Switzerland. In January 2009 a new feed-in law came into effect in Switzerland, but which limits the additional installation of solar power plants to an annual output of four megawatts. “Photovoltaic has great potential”, says the national councillor, who thinks little of the cap. “We are calling for a photovoltaic plant on every house in Switzerland in our stimulus package”. This resolution was handed in at the end of March, and in June she expects a decision from the Swiss Federal Council. “We want to burst apart the cap”, adds National Councillor Eric Nussbaumer. He anticipates that photovoltaic plants with a total output of 30 to 35 megawatts will be installed in Switzerland by 2010.
“Sputnik Engineering is looking positively into the future”, says Christoph von Bergen. “Today we see a much greater potential in photovoltaics than we did when we founded the company 18 years ago. Back then we couldn’t have dreamt that the entire SP would come to us. We have established ourselves on the market thanks to our high quality products. Our customers choose our products because they trust our many years of experience and our Swiss quality, and because we are leaders in after sales service. In addition, we don’t sell old automobiles but rather key technologies that are just beginning to awaken”. At the end, the National Councillor Micheline Calmy-Rey personally thanked Bergen for the interesting guided tour. “I am impressed how your company has developed in these 18 years”, she said.
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