By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent
What Happened:And so it ends. What was once the emblematic brand of the U.S. solar industry – SolarWorld – is gone, as Sunpower has announced it will snap up at least the company’s assets.:
- As much as SolarWorld the corporation deserves scorn for its destructive behavior over the past 12 months, there really isn’t any such thing as SolarWorld as a corporation.
- In reality, the company is made up of people – real, flesh-and-blood people – and if Sunpower’s purchase of the company saves their jobs, then we can’t be anything but happy here at SolarWakeup.
- But don’t expect us to be happy that the executives at the company will likely be walking away with golden parachutes after leaving a swath of destruction across the industry to the tune of 9,800 jobs and counting.
SolarWakeup’s View: No one is happier than I am to be writing this story, for two reasons. First, it means I will never have to type the name SolarWorld ever again, once this story is over. Second, it means the more than 300 employees working at SolarWorld’s Oregon facility may have their jobs saved – and I am all about actually saving jobs.
Now it should be noted that as happy as I am about saving those jobs on one of the most beautiful states in the country (and they make a mean Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley), it is a bit sobering to realize that those jobs came in part at the cost of 9,800 jobs (and counting) thanks to SolarWorld’s unconscionable decision to support Suniva’s “if-we’re-going-down, we’re-taking-the rest-of-you-with-us” trade action last year.
But that was not SolarWorld’s employees’ fault, and losing their jobs won’t bring the others back. So saving those jobs for the people and the city of Hillsboro is an unalloyed good. I can’t lie: I’m hoping SunPower is able to get the factory back up to its full strength of more than 800 jobs – but only time will tell if that can or will happen.
Of all the potential suitors for SolarWorld’s assets, I’m personally glad they went to SunPower, a company with a track-record of success and making things work under difficult circumstances. The purchase of SolarWorld provides the company with a much-needed complementary product to their high efficiency premium offering in the residential market. It’s good for the overall industry that this transaction takes place.
I can’t wait to see what happens next.
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