27-04-2007 / Solland winner Euregion Meuse-Rhine Invest. Award

Heerlen / Aachen, April 27, 2007

Press release

Solland Solar winner Euregion Meuse-Rhine
Investment Award 2007

Solland Solar, producer of solar cells, established at the international border-crossing industrial estate Avantis in Heerlen (NL) / Aachen (GE), is the winner of the Meuse-Rhine Triangle Investment Award 2007. This prize, an initiative of the Euregion Meuse-Rhine, has been instituted to award the most striking investment projects of the last three years in this region. Dr. Gosse Boxhoorn, Chief Executive Officer of Solland Solar, received the prize Tuesday night the 24th April from Karl-Heinz Lambertz, member of the board of the Foundation Euregion Meuse-Rhine and prime minister of the German speaking Community of Belgium. This took place at a gathering in Schloss Rahe in Aachen, Germany.

The jury, composed of the heads of Investment Promotion of the 4 regional development companies AGIT, Spi+, POM Limburg and LIOF, chose 4 winners out of 12 nominees – among which Solland Solar – on the basis of criteria such as volume (financial and jobs), growth perspective and relevance for the region. The jury motivated its decision to adjudge the Award to Solland Solar by referring to the fast growth of the company and its leading market position. In 2004 Solland Solar started at Avantis a production plant for solar cells. In a short period the company has grown to the current manpower of over 100 people. The company expects, as a result of its development plans, to increase the number of employees to 1000 in 2010. In connection with the planned, large extension of the production capacity from 60 MW/year now to 500 MW/year in 2010, the turnover of that year is estimated at ? 1 billion, against almost ? 40 million in 2006.

Gosse Boxhoorn: ‘We are very pleased and proud of the fact that we won this prize. We won the Rising Star Award that was offered by Deloitte in 2006. Now the Meuse-Rhine Triangle Investment Award 2007 is another proof of the strength of our current position and the trust in the future of Solland Solar. I am proud of our fellow workers who laid the foundation of this Award.’

The initiative for the Investment Awards originates from the border-crossing joint project Meuse-Rhine Triangle, Heartbeat of Business in Europe. In this project have cooperated AGIT (Aachen), Spi+ (Liège), Province of Limburg (Belgium) and the LIOF investment bank for the Dutch province of Limburg the three last years in order to put the Euregion Meuse-Rhine on the map as an interesting investment location in Europe. Within the project common means of communication have been created. Advertisements were placed in foreign magazines and events have been organised for foreign entrepreneurs that visited the region. The project Meuse-Rhine Triangle, Heartbeat of Business in Europe is financed by the EU (Interreg), Nordrhein Westfalen (G), Ministry of Economic Affairs (NL), Province of Liège, Province of Limburg (B) and the organising partners.

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