The German subsidiaries of solar panel technology company Meyer Burger have filed for insolvency proceedings, typically the precursor to bankruptcy.
The Swiss company abruptly closed its Arizona solar panel assembly facility last week, laying off 282 American employees. Meyer Burger stated in its insolvency announcement that its American subsidiary will “remain in existence as a company” despite laying off every employee. Meyer Burger’s Swiss subsidiary, which employs 60 people in Thun, will remain in operation.
The two German sites are now closed. A cell manufacturing facility in Thalheim employed 331 people, and an R&D facility in Hohenstein-Ernstthal employed 289 people.
“Intensive efforts were made to keep the sites open during the ongoing restructuring negotiations,” Meyer Burger stated in a press release. “These efforts have not been successful to date and will now be continued as part of the proceedings together with a provisional insolvency administrator to be appointed by the court.”
Meyer Burger started in the solar industry as a manufacturing equipment developer for heterojunction technology (HJT) solar panels. Its “SmartWire” designs were licensed by other manufacturing names, including REC. In 2020, the company ventured into direct solar cell and panel manufacturing and sales, first opening production facilities in Germany before looking at the U.S. market. Meyer Burger’s 1.5-GW solar panel factory in Goodyear, Arizona, opened in 2024 and was the only HJT manufacturer in the United States.
What helped get Meyer Burger’s U.S. factory off the ground was a 5-GW supply agreement with large-scale developer D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI). DESRI terminated its supply agreement in November 2024, and Meyer Burger has been in a financial scramble ever since.
