25 years of SOLARA

In 1987, a world congress on solar energy took place in Hamburg. The message from the experts at the time: After more than 100 years of research, it was clear that solar energy was a clean alternative to conventional power generation and could be used on a much larger scale than was then considered. This was the initial spark and the reason why Thomas Rudolph started working for a Hamburg engineer with a small solar energy shop after completing his studies in 1988.

Rudolph worked there for eight years, initially selling various products, mostly homemade, with solar cells in his shop on Gärtnerstraße. Sailors from distant lands came and bought small solar modules for their families in places without electricity, using their wages. Word of the shop quickly spread not only among sailors, but also among allotment gardeners, sailors, and motorhome owners.

In 1996, Thomas Rudolph believed that more people needed to benefit from solar technology and that direct sales to end customers weren't the best approach. His idea was that solar technology should be offered where people typically buy accessories for motorhomes or sailboats. However, the managing director of the small engineering firm preferred to stick to his core business and let Rudolph move on after eight years of training.

In 1996, at just 32 years old, Thomas Rudolph founded SOLARA with his friend and colleague Hans Jacobs. Having just become a father and driven by the idea of ​​a livable future with environmentally friendly and inexhaustible solar power for the children of this world, his motivation was immense. "When my children are grown, solar panels on sailboats, motorhomes, and even houses should be commonplace," was his vision even back then.

Thanks to a business start-up initiative in Hamburg (HEI), corresponding government loans and guarantees, and the support of Deutsche Bank, which also believed in the future of solar energy, a new company was launched despite the very modest equity capital of the two founders. SOLARA was born and, at its inception, already had its first employee, Frank Heise, a graduate engineer, who would later become the managing partner of SOLARA in Hamburg in 2014.

After initial attempts at running the business from Thomas Rudolph's garage and living room, it became clear that a proper office with a warehouse and, as usual, a small shop in Hamburg was needed. A suitable location was quickly found in Hamburg's Eimsbüttel district. Barely had they moved in when they hired their second employee, Bozena Frejlich. To this day, she remains the heart and soul of order processing and is well-known to all customers worldwide.

Initially, the founders focused almost exclusively on the boat and RV market in Germany. Their own exhibition stands at all relevant trade shows and intensive contact with potential resellers quickly led to the planned success. "We overcame the skepticism surrounding solar energy and the lack of awareness about its significant advantages by emphasizing the benefits, not the technology," says Thomas Rudolph. The focus wasn't on watts, volts, and amps, but rather on information about which electrical devices could be powered by solar energy and for how long. The simple presentation of the average daily yield (Wh/d) of a solar panel was born. This made it easy to relate the electricity demand of consumers to the solar yield. Retailers could quickly determine the customer's needs and then recommend the appropriate solar panel. This was the breakthrough in sales. True to the motto "Make it simple." Today, one would probably say "plug and play."

The right products were, of course, crucial. Even if the reseller could demonstrate the benefits of the SOLARA solar system for sailboats or motorhomes, the most important message was that the solar module was suitable. For example, the SOLARA specialist dealer had to repeatedly prove to skeptical customers that seawater or hail posed no problem for solar modules.

Even back then, SOLARA had its own development ideas, specific requirements, and the highest quality standards, which it demanded from manufacturers. This is certainly an important part of its now twenty years of success. After all, motorhome owners and sailors exchange their experiences and recommend good products to each other.

Just one year after its founding, the management decided to enter the international market, primarily within Europe. All information and operating instructions now had to be translated into English. English-language sales meetings, international business trips, and trade fairs became the new challenges. Frank Heise: "Back then, without the Euro, passports were required, and export procedures involved extensive processing, sometimes even customs duties. Hardly imaginable today with a common European market."

The premises quickly became too small, and by 1999 the company was already moving again, this time to Hamburg Altona. By then, SOLARA employed more than 12 people, and its turnover had risen to several million Deutsche Marks.

The high demands and increasingly specialized specifications for the various applications using SOLARA solar modules made it necessary to establish in-house production. With the support of its suppliers and Ralf Hennings, a physicist from Wismar who already had several years of experience, the SOLARA solar power factory began production in 2001.

From then on, development progressed in leaps and bounds. The company quickly surpassed the tens of millions of units sold, and SOLARA became one of the first major players in Europe. With the launch of the "100.000 Roofs Program," a federal government funding initiative in 1999, solar modules for grid-connected systems were also manufactured. In 2004, a trade journal not only named SOLARA the best brand of the year, but also supplied the solar modules for what was then the world's largest rooftop solar installation, built for BMW in Dingolfing, Bavaria.

Production was constantly expanded and culminated in 2008 in a dedicated building covering 20.000 square meters with a capacity of several hundred megawatts and over 200 employees in Wismar, on the coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

To manage this rapid growth, SOLARA joined forces with other companies in 2006 and merged with the publicly traded CentroSolar Group AG to form CentroSolar AG. This was certainly a wise decision at the time, given the rapidly growing demand and financially strong competitors, enabling the company to continue operating and expanding its business model of production and wholesale in a competitive manner.

Like many companies, Centrosolar was caught in the downward spiral of the grid-tied solar industry in Germany in 2013. In response, SOLARA separated from the Centrosolar Group. With its off-grid applications, such as for sailboats and motorhomes, but now also for unusual electrification projects in Africa, expeditions, and much more, SOLARA continues to be very successful. With a completely revamped product portfolio, the company has returned to its headquarters in Hamburg Altona. With three experienced and passionate solar engineers, Frank Heise, Mirko Held, and Walter Grauerholz, as managing partners, SOLARA is well-positioned for the future.

SOLARA solar modules still come from the solar power factory in Wismar. The factory can now look back on over 15 years of experience.

Frank Heise: “Innovation, quality and durability remain important to us, and after 25 years I know how to achieve this. More than a 20-year guarantee has been standard practice for SOLARA since its founding.”

SOLARA is a company with a history in this still young industry and is characterized by consistency despite past turbulence.

The vision of SOLARA founder Thomas Rudolph 25 years ago – "When my children are grown, solar panels on sailboats, motorhomes, and even houses should be commonplace" – has, as we know today, not only become reality but has been surpassed, with well over a million solar panels on rooftops in Germany alone and many more on sailboats and motorhomes worldwide. Operators of solar panels can now produce a kilowatt-hour for less than 10 cents in Germany. This is far cheaper than the approximately 30 cents that customers often have to pay energy companies today.