German Solar Vendor to Build Headquarters in Cleveland

U.S. headquarters here could be its production site.

The Plain Dealer
November 20, 2007
By John Funk
Plain Dealer Reporter

IBC Solar AG, Germany`s oldest solar vendor, will build its U.S. headquarters in Cleveland - and hopes to produce solar equipment here.

But whether the company begins manufacturing will depend on whether the state requires that a portion of the power sold here be generated with renewable energy technology such as solar panels and wind turbines.

IBC employs about 150 people in Germany and 200 worldwide to assemble solar systems manufactured by suppliers. Advocates of renewable energy say IBC`s headquarters could be the first step toward creating an industry employing thousands of people in Ohio.

"I have decided to make Cleveland the U.S. headquarters for IBC," Udo Mohrstedt, chairman and CEO, wrote in a letter Nov. 5 to Cleveland Foundation President Ronn Richard.

Richard revealed the document Monday during a meeting with the Cuyahoga County delegation of Ohio lawmakers about the fate of Gov. Ted Strickland`s energy bill, which would rewrite Ohio`s utility regulations. The bill includes a rule about renewable energy - one that has already been watered down by the Ohio Senate and has an uncertain future in the House.

Mohrstedt and his top advisers spent two days in the city last month, arriving here convinced they would build headquarters in California. The foundation had invited them.

But after spending time with Mayor Frank Jackson, Case Western Reserve University researchers, the Ohio Department of Development`s top people and others, the German group saw Ohio in a new light.

"We learned a lot about the infrastructure that interested us," Vaughn Buntain, IBC`s vice president of international marketing, said Monday in a telephone interview from Germany. "We were very impressed."

Ohio has a strong manufacturing culture; is centrally located; has excellent rail, highway and port facilities; and offers robust research labs, Buntain said.

"We were impressed by the ready access to the research environment. That is critical to us - access to research universities," he said. "We had a very promising meeting with Case Western Reserve University."

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