French energy giant EDF Renewables has closed its solar manufacturing subsidiary Photowatt.
The energy giant sought an agreement with Carbon, a French PV manufacturing startup, last September, however the deal fell through and no other buyers emerged. According to news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP), citing an EDF Renewables spokesperson, “the option chosen by management was to close the company”.
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EDF said that Photowatt was losing between €20-30 million per year, according to a statement given to AFP.
Carbon’s plan aimed to integrate Photowatt into its solar PV manufacturing project in France. In its proposed acquisition, the startup pledged to invest €40 million to build a module assembly plant with an annual nameplate capacity of 500MW.
But the collapse of the deals means EDF Renewables has now closed down the Photowatt plant in Bourgoin-Jallieu, in eastern France, near the city of Lyon.
Photowatt was founded in 1979 as a spin-off from Dutch conglomerate Philips to research PV cells. Across the decades, the company manufactured solar wafers, cells and modules with an annual nameplate capacity of 200MW, according to the company’s website. The company became a subsidiary of EDF Renewables in 2012.
Its demise signifies a further chapter in the ongoing struggles faced by European PV manufacturers struggling to compete with cheaper modules from Asian producers.
