U.S.-based Global Solar, a provider of copper indium gallium diselenide thin-film solar cell technology, says it is consolidating its operations and focusing on its Tucson, Ariz., factory. As a consequence, the company's wholly owned subsidiary, Global Solar Energy Deutschland GmbH (GSED), is applying for German insolvency proceedings.
Global Solar will continue to produce all product lines at its Arizona factory. The GSED operations focused exclusively on the Global Solar PowerFLEX product line. Under current market conditions, the Tucson facility has sufficient capacity to meet demand, Global Solar says, and as a result of the GSED actions, the company will no longer operate its 35 MW production facilities in Berlin.
‘The [European Union (EU)] renewables market is financially challenging due to high inventories, collapsing prices and significant reductions to European feed-in tariffs," says the company's CEO, Dr. Jeffrey Britt.
"As a result of this difficult operating environment, a strategic decision has been made to plan and execute an EU capacity reduction and focus investment on the products and technology necessary to meet our customer's needs and fulfill our business plan," he continues.
Global Solar will continue to honor all of its warranty obligations and service European customers, but from its Tucson facilities.
‘While unfortunate, the Berlin facility shutdown provides an opportunity to address financial structure issues, appropriately scale production capabilities and align with growing markets in Asia, the Middle East and North America," Britt adds.
Global Solar will also continue with its previously announced efforts to pursue new investor participation, which is being led by FTI Capital Advisors LLC, the wholly owned investment banking subsidiary of FTI Consulting Inc.
