Although Germans are renowned for spending much of their six weeks of annual vacation in sunnier climes to escape the frequent gray skies and rain of home, solar energy is turning out to be o­ne of the country's fastest-growing sectors and could be the light at the end of the tunnel for the struggling east.

The eastern city of Frankfurt an der Oder is turning into o­ne of the main beneficiaries of the solar upsurge, with three solar production facilities planned for the region. o­ne, being built by the green energy company Conergy, is scheduled to go o­nline in October or November.

Inside the shell of a chip factory that never got off the ground another in a long string of economic disappointments for the region workers are busy putting in machines that cut and clean silicon. When up and running toward the end of this year, Conergy hopes to produce about 1.2 million photovoltaic modules, which convert the sun's energy into electricity, per year and employ around 600 people.