Ercam Trackers, subsidiary of solar power plant owner and operator, OCI Solar Power, has laid off over 50 workers in Texas.
The layoffs are a result of a joint venture OCI has formed with Korean supplier of solar trackers, Paru Co, which will replace San Antonio-based Ercam.
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A spokeswoman for OCI, Sara Krueger, confirmed to PV Tech that the jobs had been lost following a reorganisation of Ercam Trackers last month as part of the new joint venture with Paru, called Sun Action Trackers.
Ercam Trackers, a joint venture between OCI and engineering company, Energía Ercam, Ercam Trackers, only recently relocated to San Antonio to help construct one of OCI’s most notable developments, the 400MW Alamo solar project.
As part of Alamo’s development, OCI has an employment and economic growth agreement to provide permanent employment of at least 800 jobs, and stimulate business and economic development of at least US$700 million annually in Greater San Antonio.
The reorganisation of Ercam is supposed to attract more investment explains Krueger: “We will actually increase OCI Solar Power’s capital investment in San Antonio through relocation to a larger manufacturing facility.”
“Our commitment to creating 800 permanent, local jobs is not affected by the reorganisation,” said Krueger.
Employees had to sign non-disclosure agreements, but one anonymous Ercam employer told San Antonio local news, KSAT.com: “From one day to the next, we're laid off.”
“There was the feeling in the air that something was wrong. Work started to get a little slow. There were promises of bonuses and then all of a sudden nobody's saying anything.”
Tony Dorazio, president of OCI Solar Power also told local press roughly half of the 115 workers at Ercam had been laid off, but some employees could be re-hired in future. Dorazio told staff about the lay offs in a staff meeting, giving workers eight days notice.
“One reason we were given for the layoffs is the new company would be using robot welders and laser cutters, and they no longer needed all the employees to complete the tasks we were doing. I feel we were lied to by the company,” a former employee told local news.
The fourth phase of the Alamo project is scheduled to be online by the end of 2014, and will produce power for around 6,000 homes in the Greater San Antonio area with 150,000 solar panels installed across 600 acres of private land.
The panels and PV equipment will come from OCI’s partners in San Antonio – including a new PV facility being built in the city called 'Mission Solar Energy', the facility is to be complete this year, as part of the agreement with CPS.
To construct Alamo, OCI convinced a consortium of manufacturers to set up camp in San Antonio, including renewable energy company, RES Americas, Germany-based KACO and Ercam Trackers.