SoloPower, the solar panel maker
struggling to launch
its first production line in Portland, confirmed Wednesday night that
it will cut its workforce as it attempts to restructure operations. A spokesperson for the California-based company declined to discuss
further details but said it would issue an announcement soon. The layoffs are the latest signal of distress at SoloPower, where
production delays have placed state and federal loan guarantees in
peril. The company, which state business recruiters won over in 2011,
already has received a $10 million state energy loan backed in part by
Portland funding and a $20 million manufacturing Business Energy Tax
Credit that will pay $13.5 million in cash. But SoloPower has struggled to ramp up production in Portland, where
initial plans outlined a $340 million thin-film solar panel factory that
would eventually employ 450 within five years. The first line was originally slated for completion in April 2012.
But missed goals forced executives to renegotiate a $197 million federal
loan guarantee in January, The Oregonian reported earlier this month...
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