Fuente: © European Union
http://europa.eu.int

EU: State aid: Commission opens in-depth investigation into €35 million aid to German joint venture EverQ

/noticias.info/ The European Commission has opened a formal investigation under EC Treaty state aid rules into public funding of over €35 million for a solar energy investment project by EverQ GmbH in Thalheim, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. The Commission has concerns that the current aid is in fact part of a single investment project, which already received State aid. According to the EU rules on regional aid to large investment projects, if this proves to be the case, the current proposed aid would need to be substantially reduced. The opening of an in-depth investigation gives interested parties the possibility to comment on the proposed measure. It does not prejudge the outcome of the procedure.

Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes commented: "We need to ensure that the aid does not reinforce the competitive position of EverQ without added value for regional cohesion."

EverQ GmbH is a joint venture of three equal partners, Evergreen Solar Inc., Q-Cells AG and Renewable Energy Corporation ASA, active in the solar energy sector. EverQ already benefited from regional investment aid, including an SME bonus, for its first plant (EverQ1, Commission decision N 426/2005) set up for the integrated production of photovoltaic modules from solar wafers produced on the basis of the so-called String-Ribbon technology. The new aid relates to a second solar modules plant (EverQ2).

The Commission's 2002 Multisectoral Framework on regional aid for large investment projects, known as MSF 2002 (see IP/02/242), sets out the conditions for granting aid for large regional investment projects. It includes a progressive reduction of the regional aid ceiling for very large projects, because these suffer less from typical regional handicaps than smaller projects. If, according to MSF 2002, the measure for the construction of EverQ2 forms a single investment project with EverQ1, the scaling down would apply to the combined investment and therefore the planned amount of aid for EverQ2 would need to be substantially reduced..

At this stage of the enquiry, the Commission has doubts as to whether EverQ1 can be considered as a separate project from EverQ2 because of the physical and temporal proximity of the two projects. The work on the construction of EverQ1 started in 2005. In 2006, the work for EverQ2 was launched on land adjacent to the EverQ1 plant.

The non-confidential version of the decision will be made available under the case number C 21/2008 in the State Aid Register on the DG Competition website once any confidentiality issues have been resolved. New publications of state aid decisions on the internet and in the Official Journal are listed in the State Aid Weekly e-News. notas_de_prensa_archivo