PV Crystalox Solar PLC says its executive board has completed a strategic review of the business that calls for a ‘radical restructuring.’
The group intends to adjust its operations to align with anticipated sustainable short-term market demand so that the ongoing business will be broadly cash-neutral in 2013. It will discontinue its polysilicon production facility in Bitterfeld, Germany, and substantially reduce its production output at its U.K. ingot and German wafer operations.
‘Very significant job losses’ in both the U.K. and Germany are expected, PV Crystalox notes.
Market conditions remain extremely challenging due to the vast overcapacity in the PV industry, the company explains. This oversupply, which originates primarily in China, has maintained downward pressure on prices across the value chain during the last 18 months. Spot wafer prices have continued to fall and are now 77% below the levels seen in April 2011 and remain significantly below industry production costs.
