REC to Close Unprofitable Solar Wafer Plant in Norway on Demand
Renewable Energy Corp. ASA (REC), the Norwegian solar-parts maker that halted factories last year, said it will permanently close its Glomfjord wafer plant in Norway after failing to cut costs enough to make it profitable.
REC, based in Sandvika near Oslo, will close the 300 megawatt monocrystalline wafer plant with the loss of 200 jobs, it said in a statement today.
While the plant has made cost reductions, these have “not been sufficient to ensure profitability in a very challenging market,” Chief Executive Officer Ole Enger said.
European solar-component makers are under pressure from Chinese rivals that expanded output capacity just as consumption slowed, causing wafer and cell prices to plummet.
REC and its European peers Solarworld AG (SWV) and Q-Cells SE (QCE) have cut production as demand shrinks in the region, where Germany, France and Italy have reduced subsidies to cap booming solar installations.
To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Treloar in Oslo at streloar1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christian Wienberg at cwienberg@bloomberg.net
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