At the beginning of last year, seven solar-energy companies were listed on the TecDAX, an index tracking the 30 largest technology companies on the Frankfurt stock exchange. Today, there are two.

The survivors are SolarWorld and inverter maker SMA Solar. All the others — Q-Cells, Phoenix Solar, Conergy, Roth & Rau and, most recently, Centrotherm — have been delisted as their market capitalisations withered or they were acquired or went bankrupt.

Germany’s