With this purchase, SolarWorld takes over Bosch's cell production plant with a nominal year-end capacity of 700 MW and a module production plant with a nominal year-end capacity of 200 MW. The plant will become part of the wholly-owned SolarWorld subsidiary SolarWorld Industries-Thüringen GmbH.

This makes SolarWorld the first European solar energy group with a production capacity of over one gigawatt, it says. Together with the newly acquired production facilities, SolarWorld will be the largest solar technology manufacturer in the Western world.