The photovoltaic (PV) market is booming.The solar and energy technology companies in the region are also noticing this.If you order from iKratos now, you'll have to wait a year to have a PV system installed on your roof.inFranken.de interviews the company boss, Willi Harhammer, from Weißenohe.Willi Harhammer: "Solar energy has been pretty quiet in recent years, the market was politically slowed down. Now there is a lot more momentum. There are several factors that have changed the PV market: The new government has made changes in the area of ​​CO2 "A lot of reductions have been made, inflation is driving up energy prices and the war in Ukraine is causing widespread uncertainty. Many have recognized how vulnerable the energy market is, they want to protect themselves and therefore rely on their own electricity - i.e. on PV.""I suspected that there would be a weakening again when the prices fell. With heating oil we are now at 1.20 euros per liter. Oil heating owners see more relaxed times coming up. At two euros the unrest was significantly greater.""They fluctuate, but the low level that existed before the Ukraine war will no longer exist. Almost all experts do not assume that we will return to the old price level. And if we think and act a little more strategically in Germany, because the market for regenerative energies remains stable. The prices for fossil energies remain at a high level, the state will take care of that. Think of the CO2 tax, which is constantly increasing. The focus on energy has never been as strong as it is today. ""We now have up to 100 inquiries per day related to PV or heat pumps, it used to be 10 to 15. Now we use online forms to determine who is really interested. We had to put in this barrier so that we could even manage time .""We always have a delivery time of around 12 months: our customers have to wait a year for the PV system.""Our systems pay for themselves within 10 years. During this period, the PV with a storage system supplies up to 80 percent of the electricity consumed.""We have a lot of unused space in Bavaria: facade cladding, road strips on the motorways, noise barriers, roofs of commercial buildings, agricultural photovoltaics - it's amazing how much free space we still have. If you look, then most of them are Roofs are still red. In the meantime, we could also sensibly accommodate PV on the north-south-west-east locations of the roofs. In Bavaria, we have equipped a maximum of 5 to 10 percent of the possible areas with PV. We need a new infrastructure, but then Germany could be independent of fossil fuels. And we have to rethink: we should all stop using energy wastefully. We need a fairer evaluation of energy.""The announcement didn't make any waves with us, but the announcement that politicians want changes in the energy sector makes me feel positive. Sure, the prices for electricity feed-in remain modest. But most of our customers aren't concerned with wanting to use the own electricity reduce their energy costs.""We work with modules that a company from the USA sells and that produces in several countries - including in Asia and Europe. It works without any problems.""Location Germany has overslept and managed the module production in the past, now there could be a renaissance. The production is highly automated, wages are no longer the central cost factor. Manufacturers in Germany have to get the parts logistics stable, especially with the wafers . And we need better framework conditions that economic policy should set.""We have around 50 employees, and if we should expand, we could also recruit the necessary fitters. We are a diverse workforce in terms of nationalities. In addition, there are currently two trainees who are electronics technicians for energy and building technology, maybe we can increase this number.""We only recently equipped two large companies with PV. Instead of paying 50,000 euros a month for energy costs, they should suddenly pay 120,000 euros. In view of the energy prices, they are of course very happy that they are now generating their own electricity with PV. I think if At the end of this year, companies are taking stock of their energy costs, and then many start to ponder.The energy suppliers with their bureaucracy, that's a problem that deters the companies, we have to do better here.And you can make the company more attractive increase with PV: If many employees drive to the company in their e-car, then carports with wall boxes are worthwhile.""It was a good program that Bavaria should continue. German consumers like incentives, that stimulates them, even if the subsidies aren't necessarily lavish.""We have more hours of sunshine than other federal states. But there is more wind in the north. We're closer to Italy and that's noticeable in many ways.""I'm very confident about solar technology, I believe in the 'total future' of this approach. PV, storage and heat pumps will create a 'green future' in Germany. Then we'll be largely independent of fossil fuels and that's exactly what we need."Willi Harhammer is the managing director (as he says, the 'leader of the pack') of the company iKratos Solar- und Energietechnik GmbH in Weißenohe in Franconia.He did his electrical and heating master craftsman at the Chamber of Crafts and founded the company from scratch 20 years ago.He gained his first professional experience in a medium-sized company as operations manager that produced gas station technology.When he's not thinking about PV, storage and heat storage, he enjoys mountain biking and dancing.And he says: "I just like to live."No comments have yet been written for this article.