Lights for French solar panel manufacturer
One of France’s last producers of solar panels – in the hands of a part of the state -owned EDF, which manages the nuclear reactors of the country, will be closed after no buyer has appeared.
Edf Renewables said on Friday that it has investigated all the options to save Photowatt, which loses between 20 and 30 million euros per year.
But after no deal with a buyer could be reached, “was the option chosen by the management to close the company,” a spokesperson for EDF Renewables told AFP.
Photowatt is located outside the eastern city of Lyon and employs 162 people.
It was purchased by EDF Renewables in 2012 from bankruptcy protection, after it was weakened by cheaper Chinese import.
Eventually it stopped the production of solar panels and focused on the production of the silicon waffles that were used to make solar panels.
The EU unveiled an initiative last year to support the few remaining domestic producers of solar panels, noticing that the block imported the majority of its needs, with 97 percent of the import from China.
It noted that solar energy is the fastest growing sustainable energy sector in the EU and will be crucial for achieving the objective of renewable energy sources for 2030, accounting for 42.5 percent of energy production.
Data released on Thursday by climate thinking tank Ember shows that renewable energy sources last year took 47 percent of the electricity production in the EU, supplied by solar energy.
