News

SYSTAIC anniversary and outlook for the next 5 years: “Photovoltaic integration becoming commonplace”

Since its beginnings, Düsseldorf-based systaic AG has specialised in aesthetic and fully integrated solar systems. In all three business segments Energy Roof Systems, Automotive and Solar Power Plants SYSTAIC is an innovation leader in the combination of photovoltaic components and roof elements. The company was founded five years ago – and with its future-orientated energy products it has every reason to celebrate its anniversary with pride and optimism.

Five years of SYSTAIC – that's five successful years in the development and production of innovative energy roof solutions for buildings and vehicles. The anniversary is not only a reason to look back, but also to present a clear perspective: the future of energy supply is decentralised, eco-friendly, solar – and SYSTAIC is making a major contribution. Today business associates and customers can see for themselves at head office in Düsseldorf.

SYSTAIC was founded in November 2004 – with three employees and the ambitious corporate goal of supplying aesthetically integrated solar solutions. The first European subsidiary was opened as early as 2005; and in 2006 SYSTAIC unveiled its first self-developed energy roof system. In each of the years 2007 and 2008 sales of the now listed systaic AG increased sixfold. The energy roof was installed and honoured multiple times in these years; the Solar Power Plants and Automotive business segments were also visibly flourishing. In autumn 2008 SYSTAIC finalised, among other things, a solar plant in the Córdoba region with a peak output of 11 megawatts and was admitted to the transparency level Prime Standard at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Today SYSTAIC owns over 12 subsidiaries in six countries, operates a solar system production plant specialising in premium quality and employs a workforce of over 250. With a forecast annual turnover in excess of €300 million, SYSTAIC intends to exceed its own targets even in the difficult financial year 2009 and grow faster than the market.

But SYSTAIC has every reason to look into the future with great optimism: with the aim of maximising pleasure in their own four walls at the lowest possible expense, owners and planners are increasingly setting their sights on low energy consumption. Those are the findings of a representative survey conducted by the Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung (GfK) on behalf of Allianz Versicherung in early 2009. The 1,000 interviewees included property owners and people who were intending to build or purchase property within the next five years. Special emphasis was placed on thermal insulation of buildings as well as the use of solar energy in thermal solar plants and photovoltaic technology. This was partly attributable to the Energy Saving Act (EnEV) 2009 which poses new challenges to property owners.

According to the study €15 billion will already be invested in thermal insulation measures in 2009, and this trend will in all probability continue unabated through 2010. The GfK study reveals that 700,000 house owners, i.e. 50%, are planning to install a solar plant in the coming year.

The SYSTAIC business model has been geared to this trend right from the beginning and thus offers a wide range of possibilities. To cater for needs systaic AG is planning to open 18 sales offices in Germany by 2011. The first sales centre will open its doors in spring 2010. Besides a showroom and a workshop for fitters, the focus will be on energy roofs, heat pumps and house energy. systaic AG is thus responding to the wishes of its customers to increase its regional presence and move closer to the consumer. The new sales concept will be accompanied by an advertising and marketing campaign for which the company has proposed a budget worth a two-digit million amount. The renowned agency Ogilvy & Mather was commissioned to develop a new brand presence, due to be launched in February 2010.

To enable systaic AG to meet the diverse needs of its customers even more individually and cover a wider price spectrum, the SYSTAIC Energy Room Systems segment has expanded its product portfolio: in addition to the premium roof solutions which have become well established on the market, a more economical version and photovoltaic components for expansive industrial roofs are now being marketed. The new energy roofs are derived from the multiple award-winning version and thus likewise satisfy the demand for a highly aesthetic, solar-integrated roof architecture.

The SYSTAIC energy roof has won several innovation and architectural awards and at the beginning of November 2009 it received the grand prize in gold at Batimat, the world's largest construction fair. The reason for the internationally recognised award is the latest refinement: the photovoltaic waste heat is being used in conjunction with a heat pump. With parallel electricity production the hot water tank is supplied with solar heat; in addition, the room air can be cooled and the energy extracted from it can likewise be used.

SYSTAIC is also working with roof integration solutions in its project business. The greenhouse system developed by SYSTAIC is experiencing great demand in Spain, Italy and Germany. In Sardinia these greenhouses are currently being constructed with an output of over 150 megawatt peak.

Under the catchphrase “solar mobility” SYSTAIC is also strongly represented in the automotive segment. For many years subsidiary Webasto Solar GmbH has been successfully series producing photovoltaic generators for car roofs. In future not only the relatively small sliding roof will be used as a resource, as hitherto, but the whole upper vehicle shell: the new SYSTAIC complete roof solar solutions for vehicles achieve fuel savings of up to 20% – that amounts to a reduction of 45 grams per kilometre in CO2 emissions. The unique know-how in this sector makes SYSTAIC a sought-after partner in the search for alternative, emission-free drive energy. In 2009 development cooperations were signed, among others, with Daimler AG and these have since reached an advanced stage. Moreover, the SYSTAIC Automotive segment is currently instrumental in the development of a transporter, an all-electric vehicle. The commercial vehicle will be equipped with a SYSTAIC energy roof and used as a SYSTAIC service vehicle. The first prototypes will already be on the road in the coming year. In 2011 they are to go into mass production.

Houses whose roofs consist exclusively of specially integrated solar modules, series-manufactured vehicles with photovoltaic roofs on Europe's highways – those are subjects which to many seem like merely a vision, but they have long-since become perfected technologies of systaic AG. The latter can already be cost-effective today without subsidization: SYSTAIC is anticipating a further fall in prices due to industrial production. Photovoltaic cells on buildings and cars will be as commonplace as in calculators today. The solar technology company is today celebrating its 5th anniversary – and has invited all interested persons to an information event. At 2:30 pm on 26 November SYSTAIC will be opening its head office in Düsseldorf to demonstrate the high performance of solar energy products and what can be expected of SYSTAIC in the next five years.

Visitors will be able to obtain advice on energy and information on photovoltaic electricity. In a panel discussion starting at 4:30 pm and chaired by WDR presenter Brigitte Pavetic representatives of E.ON, the city's Environmental Office and Stadtwerke Düsseldorf (public utilities) together with SYSTAIC founder Michael Viktor Kamp will be taking a stand on the necessity for renewable energy and increasingly decentralised electricity and heat supplies. SYSTAIC CEO Michael Pack is sure: “The past five years have shown that we are on the right course. We have shown that our sustainable technology is integrable and fully accepted in aesthetic terms. Photovoltaic integration will become a necessary and customer-friendly standard – in the streets, in buildings and in our infrastructure as a whole.”