Where Meyer Burger failed, this module manufacturer succeeded

When it is necessary to demonstrate, Patrick Hofer-Noser jumps onto the roof himself. Fortunately, he cannot fall because the roof is close to the ground. It is in the showroom of Hofer-Noser’s new factory in Worb near Bern, where his company manufactures solar modules. There is something unusual to see: the photovoltaic systems that are being built at 3S Swiss Solar Solutions are not normal panels.

That’s why the company boss himself storms over the sloping roof – dress shoes or not. Hofer-Noser wants to show how flush the solar modules are, how easily tradesmen can walk around on them, how well a skylight and a chimney fit into the module surface. Because that’s what’s special: the photovoltaics (PV) are not placed on an existing roof. Instead, they are the roof. The solar cells replace the roof tiles and cover the roof structure over the entire surface.

The separation from Meyer Burger was the right decision

“Roof tiles are supposed to protect the house. But a solar tile protects the house and also generates electricity,” says the company boss. PV, which is seamlessly integrated into the building shell, is the logical extension of building culture, he explains. The argument is catching on. The company is growing – and is showing that solar modules made in Europe can be competitive. Even those from expensive Switzerland.

This is what sets 3S apart from Meyer Burger, the country’s best-known solar company. Meyer Burger is fighting for survival. The module manufacturer based in Thun cannot hold its own against cheap Chinese competition and is looking for salvation in the USA, where generous subsidies are tempting. But relocating production from Germany to the United States is expensive. At the end of August, Meyer Burger had to stop the move halfway through due to a lack of money.

The prospects are better at 3S. The factory in Worb was opened at the end of January as a second location. The headquarters, the first plant, is in Gwatt near Thun. Meyer Burger is also based there. This is no coincidence: 3S was once part of the module manufacturer, which is now in crisis. But six years ago, Hofer-Noser decided to set up 3S independently and separate it from Meyer Burger. He is the founder, majority owner and boss in one.

 

Meyer Burger manufactures standard solar modules, similar to those that Chinese competitors throw onto the market in large quantities. The resulting price collapse has put the company in dire straits. Hofer-Noser never wanted it to get that far. “It was always absolutely clear to me that the only thing that counts with standard modules is the price. As 3S, we produced standard modules for another week after the split, but then that was over,” reports the CEO.

The trick: be profitable even with small production

Instead, 3S focused on solar modules as a building material in order to stand out from the competition. In addition to solar systems as covering for pitched roofs and facades, the company offers balcony railings with solar panels and solar roofing, for example for parking spaces. More than 20,000 systems have been installed to date.

Hofer-Noser hopes that Meyer Burger will survive the turbulence. He has considered whether 3S should also set up a branch in the USA to benefit from the subsidies. “But if the subsidies are withdrawn, and I only went there because of the subsidies, what will happen then?” he asks.

Hofer-Noser believes that subsidizing solar production in Europe is too short-sighted; he prefers liberal approaches. And there are other problems in Switzerland: “We don’t need more subsidies, but a simplification of building requirements, permit templates and regulations.”

Compared to its Chinese competitors, Meyer Burger is a dwarf. Compared to Meyer Burger, 3S is the junior. The 150 employees generate sales of more than 40 million francs. Meyer Burger achieved 135 million francs in 2023 – but was highly loss-making.

 

On the other hand, 3S is making a profit, because size isn’t everything. The new production facility in Worb is designed for a capacity of 250 megawatts. It is not yet at full capacity, but the business is profitable even with a much smaller quantity. The modules are more expensive to produce than the Chinese standard product, but also more expensive to sell. Purchasing a roof built with integrated PV costs around a fifth more than a conventional roof on which a solar system is installed.

In return, 3S promises a more attractive and homogeneous appearance than with the screw-on systems, a longer service life, better protection against hail, less maintenance and upkeep, and a better supply of spare parts. The solar panels are usually installed in single-family and multi-family homes, but they have also been used in commercial buildings, event halls, church roofs, or the facades of cable car stations.

China used to be the customer – now it is the supplier

Special sizes for roof and facade systems, which are geared towards specific customer requirements, are manufactured in the Thun factory. In Worb, a new module line with various standard sizes is rolling off the production line.

Given the high labor costs, 3S can only manufacture the modules in Switzerland because production is highly automated. The centerpiece is the 200-ton, 40-meter-long laminator, in which the solar cells, glass, plastic films and brackets are pressed into modules. 3S sources the cells from China, and the laminator was also purchased there. China is now the heart of the PV industry.

 

This is not without irony. “By importing the machines, we did what the Chinese had previously done to us,” says Hofer-Noser. The 58-year-old knows this because he was there: the Bernese is sometimes referred to as the “solar pioneer” of the Swiss industry. He does not see himself that way, because others were there even earlier. Nevertheless, the electronics graduate worked in the industry before the turn of the century and founded 3S in 2001 – from the start with the aim of designing beautiful buildings with PV.

But machines were needed to produce the modules. 3S had to develop the production machines itself – and discovered that more money could be made by selling the machines than by selling the modules for solar roofs and facades. So machine production became the most important mainstay at that time.

In 2010, the company merged with Meyer Burger, which at the time was a manufacturer of saws for producing wafers, the silicon discs used to make solar cells. Together, they wanted to maintain the upper hand in the machine market. One group of buyers became increasingly important: the Chinese.

Under pressure from two sides

In search of the right strategy, Meyer Burger has changed course several times over the years. In 2018, the business taken over by 3S was to be closed. Hofer-Noser, who had since left the company, did not want to allow this to happen. He returned and bought out parts of his former company. From then on, 3S concentrated on solar elements as building products.

 

Since returning to self-employment, 3S has been profitable and has grown strongly, says the boss. He is not worried about Chinese competition. The construction industry is very regional, and habits and regulations vary. “I am not afraid that the Chinese will come and want to deal with the differences between a roof structure in Graubünden and one in the Bernese Oberland,” he says. The market is too small and too complex for that.

Instead, it is now European module manufacturers who, under Chinese pressure, are looking for a gap in the market and are moving into the construction industry. 3S has to assert itself against pressure from two sides: against broadly positioned module manufacturers such as Megasol from Deitingen in Solothurn, which also offers integrated roof systems. And against traditional building material manufacturers who buy PV products and integrate them into their range – such as Swisspearl from Glarus, formerly Eternit, which is known for building shells made of fiber cement.

But the construction industry is conservative. The first priority is often to convince architects to plan with solar roofs and solar facades and to consider integrated PV. These systems are usually only installed in new buildings or when the entire attic is being renovated. This is different from a subsequent installation, as is usual with standard modules on existing roofs.

Now we’re going abroad

Now the work of persuasion must also be done abroad. This spring, 3S founded subsidiaries in Germany and Austria. Expansion is not easy, because integrated solar roofs, 3S’s main business, are still relatively unknown in Germany. In Austria, the state only subsidizes solar systems from the European Economic Area (EEA). And the products manufactured in Switzerland must be sold at a price that places them even higher in the premium segment. In return, the potential market is so large that even small advances would bring 3S high growth.

CEO Patrick Hofer-Noser sees the most important challenge as finding the right niche and the right product mix: being big enough to make money, but not so big that standardized mass-produced goods become competition. That sounds more like a balancing act than a summit attempt. But in contrast to the former parent company Meyer Burger, which had made it its mission to save European solar production, the task seems doable.