Solar Manufacturing: Not So Sunny
The recession has cast clouds over once fast-growing solar manufacturers.
California-based OptiSolar is laying off close to half of its workers at what it had hoped would become a huge solar-panel plant near Sacramento.
Austin-based HelioVolt, a thin-film solar manufacturer, is also cutting jobs, as reportedly is SunEdison.
Evergreen Solar, a solar manufacturer, announced that it would close down a pilot plant in Massachusetts as a cash-saving measure; it will incur a $25 million charge for writing off equipment. Most employees will be transferred to another Massachusetts factory, which is expanding.
“From the manufacturers’ standpoint, it’s pretty serious,” said Bill Stewart, president of SolarCraft, a California installer, in a conversation with Green Inc. Until last summer there were still shortages of solar modules (which in turn were due to shortages of the polysilicon material they are made from), so installers like SolarCraft sometimes had to badger manufacturers to make sure they would get enough panels.
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