Japanese PV manufacturer Panasonic is to close its module factory in Hungary at the expense of 550 jobs.
The company is widely reported to be planning to shut the Dorog facility in September in order to consolidate its manufacturing operation in Japan and Malaysia.
The plant is the company’s only solar European module manufacturing facility.
According to a company spokeswoman quoted by Bloomberg, Panasonic aims to keep its module manufacturing capacity at 900MW a year.
The move was said to be a response to the respective decline and growth of PV markets in Europe and Asia, particularly Japan.
Panasonic has already trimmed down its manufacturing operation the US, ending wafer manufacturing at its Oregon plant in June.
