In a surprise move, Utz Claassen, the newly appointed chief executive officer of Solar Millennium, the German solar thermal developer, has resigned without giving details for his decision.
Claassen, the former head of German utility EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg, officially joined the company in January.
In a press release issued on Monday evening, Solar Millennium said it was surprised by Claassen’s resignation — read full release here.
Helmut Pflaumer, chairman of the supervisory board, said:
The resignation came unexpectedly for the supervisory board. We respect the decision and welcome his intention to remain on friendly terms with the Company. The supervisory board will reorganize the duties of the management board in due course to ensure the sustainable growth of Solar Millennium AG.
Shares of Solar Millennium fell fell 13 percent to €25.13 ($34.37 / £22.84) in late morning trading today on Xetra, the electronic trading platform of Deutsche Börse in Frankfurt, according to MarketWatch.
As CEO Claassen was to oversee the company’s U.S. expansion. Earlier this year, Solar Millennium announced that it had hired Deutsche Bank and Citigroup to help it raise as much as $6 billion to finance construction of thermal power projects in the U.S. Southwest.
In Spain, Solar Millennium has developed Europe’s first parabolic trough power plants. It is also participating in the massive $572 billion DESERTEC project, which seeks to build a network of large utility-scale solar generation power plants in the Sahara.