An Intel spinoff company that opened a solar cell manufacturing
plant in New York in May will now shut down the plant and lay off 117
workers.
SpectraWatt, which makes silicon photovoltaic
cells, said in a statement that the cold and snowy winter in Europe,
which has wreaked havoc on the continent’s travel system, also has
resulted in a sudden and sharp decrease in demands for solar cell
technology.
In addition, reductions in Germany’s incentives
subsidies of up to 25 percent also played a role, according to the
company, which announced the plant closing Dec. 21. Germany is the
largest solar market in the world. The reduction in subsidies
reportedly will begin in January.
"If you look at the industry, this change in the
market conditions has been very sudden for all the players involved,"
David O'Connor, vice president for business development of SpectraWatt,
said in an interview with the Poughkeepsie Journal.
"The market conditions are difficult, as we said in our release, due to
seasonality issues in the industry with respect to what's happening in
Germany and in general due to both weather and incentives."
SpectraWatt opened its manufacturing plant in
Hopewell Junction, N.Y., in May, and has been operating on an
around-the-clock schedule in recent months. The plant is located
IBM’s Hudson Valley Research Park. The company also has R&D
operations in Hillsboro, Ore., where Intel also has facilities.
Intel spun off the company in June 2008 out of the
giant chip maker’s efforts in creating renewable sources of energy.
Intel Capital led an initial investment round of $50 million. The
company was charged with making photovoltaic cells and selling themt o
solar module makers. SpectraWatt’s R&D efforts were aimed at
improving manufacturing processes and capabilities to lower the overall
costs of energy created through photovoltaic cell technology.
"SpectraWatt is a great example of technology
resulting from entrepreneurial efforts inside Intel," Arvind Sodhani,
president of Intel Capital and Intel executive vice president, said at
the time of the spin-off announcement. "This is an important investment
for Intel Capital in the growing cleantech sector and we look forward
to working with the company to support its expansion."
Over the past two-plus years, other
firms—including the U.S. Department of Energy—invested in SpectraWatt,
which established its headquarters in New York in 2009. In March,
SpectraWatt generated $41.4 million in another round of funding from
such investors as Intel Capital, Cogentrix Energy, and PCG Clean Energy
& Technology Fund.
“These investors share our vision of an
empowered U.S.-based solar industry delivering innovative
industry-leading products,” Andrew Wilson, SpectraWatt CEO, said in a
statement announcing the funding. “The funds will allow us to expand
and build toward that national goal.”
SpectraWatt garnered a lot of attention this year,
winning some grants and awards and getting a visit to its manufacturing
plant from CNN.
The closure—which SpectraWatt executives say they
are hoping to reverse before the layoffs start in March 2011—is a blow
both to local economic efforts as well as to green technology
initiatives championed by the Obama Administration, which has made
finding renewable sources of energy a key part of its overall economic
platform.
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