Cleantech & EV'sNews

Meyer Burger just shut down its US solar factory and laid off 282 workers

Top Tech News - Meyer Burger Closes US Solar Module Factory

Swiss solar manufacturer Meyer Burger has just pulled the plug on its US solar module factory in Arizona and laid off nearly 300 workers.

On May 29, all 282 remaining employees at the Goodyear, Arizona, factory received termination notices, and operations were shut down immediately. The site was still in its ramp-up phase and had a planned annual production capacity of 1.4 gigawatts. Meyer Burger had just started assembling solar cells imported from its factory in Germany.

The company says it’s been forced to shut down the US plant due to a lack of funding. The future of the Goodyear facility is now uncertain.

Meyer Burger is currently in talks with bondholders as it tries to restructure debt tied to two convertible bonds that mature in 2027 and 2029. Those bonds were issued by its subsidiary MBT Systems GmbH and guaranteed by the parent company.

It’s unclear what this means for Meyer Burger’s solar cell factories in eastern Germany, a company spokesperson told German press agency dpa. Around 300 employees at each site, in Hohenstein-Ernstthal in Saxony and Bitterfeld-Wolfen in Lower Saxony, were furloughed last year.

Meyer Burger has struggled for a few years, in no small part due to competition from cheaper Chinese solar imports. In 2024, it cut around 20% of its 1,000-person workforce, even as it moved ahead with US expansion plans. In December, the company secured nearly $40 million in bridge financing from creditors to keep things afloat, but that money appears to have run dry.

This is just the tip of the Trump/Musk ice berg. It won’t be much longer and more with follow from all different companies. And future investment in the US by foreign companies? Notta. Any type of US investment in green sector? Even less than natta.

Welcome to the Trump/MAGA/GOP new way of life.

Meyer Burger says it will share more information as it becomes available.

Read more: Meyer Burger abandons German solar cell factory plans to build a US factory instead

To limit power outages and make your home more resilient, consider going solar with a battery storage system. In order to find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and you share your phone number with them.


Author: Michelle Lewis
Source: Electrek

Related posts
AI & RoboticsNews

Snowflake’s Openflow tackles AI’s toughest engineering challenge: Data ingestion at scale

AI & RoboticsNews

Phonely’s new AI agents hit 99% accuracy—and customers can’t tell they’re not human

AI & RoboticsNews

Your AI models are failing in production—Here’s how to fix model selection

CryptoNews

Binance Reaches 275M Users, Adds 80M in Five Months

Sign up for our Newsletter and
stay informed!

Share Your Thoughts!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Worth reading...
Meet Toyota’s new Aygo X Hybrid: The cleanest non-plug-in car on the market