Meyer Burger closes US solar panel factory in Arizona

By Nichola Groom

(Reuters) -Solar panel maker Meyer Burger shut down a U.S. factory in Arizona due to financial troubles, cutting all 282 employees, the Swiss company said on Thursday.

The closure is a setback for solar industry efforts to build a domestic supply chain and reduce its reliance on China, the world's top solar panel manufacturer.

Meyer Burger announced in 2021 it would build the Goodyear, Arizona, plant to capitalize on clean energy incentives introduced during the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden, who equated fighting climate change with creating jobs and boosting domestic manufacturing.

A bill currently under consideration in Congress would end or phase out many of those incentives, a key campaign promise of President Donald Trump.

Meyer Burger's operations in both Europe and the United States struggled to compete with cheaper products imported from Asia. Less than a year ago, it canceled plans for a second U.S. factory in Colorado.

The company said on Thursday it was in talks with a group of bondholders about restructuring, but that the future of the Goodyear site was uncertain.

The doors of the Goodyear facility were shut early on Thursday and the company put up a sign saying the facility was closed, according to two former employees.

(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Chris Reese and Sonali Paul)

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