SolarWorld AG completes acquisition of Shell assets 2006-06-30 Corporate news transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rise to the top of the world league SolarWorld AG (ISIN: DE0005108401) will complete the acquisition of the solar silicon activities of the Shell Group effective 01 July 2006. As of this date all relevant former Shell assets in the area of crystalline solar silicon technology will legally be part of the SolarWorld Group and operate under the name SolarWorld. After the integration of these solar activities, SolarWorld AG will be among the world’s three largest providers of solar power. “After the closing of the deal SolarWorld AG will be represented with its own production and sales activities in the world’s most important solar regions“, says Dipl.-Ing. Frank H. Asbeck, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SolarWorld AG. “In the USA, which is heading for a solar boom in view of the many new funding programs like those in California, we have now become the largest producer of solar power technology.“ SolarWorld goes rural: agreement with Shell on supplies for rural development In addition, SolarWorld AG will be represented in Asia and Africa clearly more substantially than in the past. This will be promoted by an agreement that SolarWorld AG has entered into with the Shell Group on the supply of solar power equipment to meet the rural demand in Asia and Africa. The volume of the agreement lasting until 2008 is in the double digit million dollar range. “SolarWorld goes rural. For SolarWorld AG this is the entry into the business with off-grid solar power applications,” continues Frank H. Asbeck. “In this process we are taking solar energy to the place where it makes most sense for development aspects. Especially the less developed countries are located along the earth’s sun belt where solar energy can be used particularly efficiently. In this way solar power can become the motor of sustainable economic development for millions of men and women.“ In concrete terms the rural business is about supplying the rural structures that are far removed from the central power grid. For example, this includes smaller solar plants that provide electricity for lighting or for the operation of electrical equipment, just as much as self-contained solar supply concepts for schools and hospitals. Grid-independent solar modules also supply electricity to remote telecommunications facilities and cross-country pipelines. SolarWorld expansion goes on The new SolarWorld Industries America has two production sites in the USA: a silicon crystals growing production site in Vancouver (Washington) and the integrated production of solar silicon wafers, cells and modules in Camarillo/California. New sales offices in Singapore and in South Africa complete the international positioning of the SolarWorld Group. In Germany the former Shell solar cell production in Gelsenkirchen as well as the office in Munich are added. “SolarWorld still will continue to expand its position in the international solar power markets after the integration of these new locations“, SolarWorld CEO Frank H. Asbeck emphasises. “Our global course of expansion will be continued against the background of a substantial market growth to be expected in the long term.“ About SolarWorld AG: The SolarWorld Group is among the three largest solar power companies in the world. The group is dedicated exclusively to the core business of solar energy combining all stages of the solar value chain from the raw material silicon to turn-key solar power plants. The company operates production facilities in Freiberg, Gelsenkirchen, Sweden and the USA. In the United States SolarWorld AG is the leading producer and provider of solar power technology. In addition sales offices operate in South Africa and Asia completing the international alignment of the group. The responsibility of these offices includes the sale of rural solar power solutions that can make an important contribution to the sustainable economic development of the southern hemisphere.   In Freiberg in Saxony the group operates one of the world’s most advanced integrated solar production facilities where the SolarWorld Group turns solar grade silicon into high quality solar wafers, solar cells and solar modules. SolarWorld AG offers a broad and diverse range of products from modules for grid-coupled and grid-independent power generation all the way to a whole class of complete solar power systems for decentralized and centralized electricity generation. After the IPO at the end of 1999 the company developed within a few years from a solar trading house to a fully integrated solar technology group increasing its workforce to more than 1,300 people by the beginning of July 2006. In the course of its expansion SolarWorld AG acquired Bayer Solar in the year 2000 and the crystalline silicon activities of the Shell Group in 2006. SolarWorld AG is listed at the stock exchange in the technology index TecDAX and in the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 as well as in the international MSCI index. Contact: SolarWorld AG Investor Relations / Marketing Communications, Tel.-No.: +49 228 55920 -470; Fax-No.: +49 228 55920-9470, E-mail: placement@solarworld.de Internet: www.solarworld.de

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