China’s Hanergy has “furloughed” almost all the employees and halted manufacturing at three American solar companies and a German firm it acquired earlier this decade — as well as at its China headquarters.
Unannounced layoffs with no pay or benefits have left more than 600 American workers in the U.S., 180 employees in Germany, and thousands in China unemployed and in the dark.
In 2013, Hanergy acquired gallium-arsenide solar developer Alta Devices for an undisclosed amount. Alta joined CIGS firms MiaSolé, Solibro and Global Solar Energy under the Hanergy roof. With little synergy among the acquired firm’s VC-funded technologies, Hanergy’s solar shopping spree appeared less than focused.
The recent pv magazine article on the layoffs at Alta Devices spurred a number of employees at Hanergy-owned solar companies to reach out and tell their stories.
MiaSolé
A MiaSolé employee told pv magazine that Hanergy had left all of its employees (approximately 100 people according to a source) without pay, PTO or expense reimbursement and “closed the doors.”
Atiye Baymam, the chief technical officer at Miasole repsonded: “MiaSolé is on a temporary production shutdown to reduce cost through the holiday season. The company has secured an international investment to further expand production capacity internationally.”
She noted, “A few weeks ago we announced another world record of 18.64% module efficiency on a commercial size flexible PV module (aperture area 1.08m2), verified by Fraunhofer.”
MiaSolé has been on holiday shutdown since October 18.
Global Solar
Global Solar Energy was building CIGS-based flexible solar in Tucson, Arizona until October 10 when it announced that it had “no money for payroll and everyone was sent home,” according to a source who added, “On December 9th they extended the furlough to January 17th.”
According to a December 9 email obtained by pv magazine, “Daily communication with Hanergy Headquarters continues. GSE CEO Lin Hai told [a volunteer steering group] that top funding priorities are still for PTO hours and health insurance for December, as well as items required to keep GSE facility operational.” The email continues: “GSE CEO Lin Hai is working closely with board and leadership team of Hanergy to get funding for GSE.”
Hanergy Beijing
Eyewitnesses and pv magazine staff have confirmed that on December 4 at least three Hanergy employees climbed up to the roof of the Hanergy headquarters building in Beijing and threatened to jump off.
The employees were protesting Hanergy’s failure to pay a reported six to seven months months of back pay. After several hours of discussion, they were persuaded to halt their protest.
There have been other protests and lobby sit-ins. According to sources, up to 8,000 employees have not been paid
Solibro
Solibro was acquired by Hanergy in 2012, but as pv magazine reported, it was hard to establish exactly who owned Germany’s thin-film module maker Solibro prior to its insolvency in November and the loss of 180 jobs.
Solibro’s Swedish R&D unit, Solibro Research, applied for bankruptcy on October 23 and saw its 30 employees leave in December, according to a source.
Alta Devices
Last week, pv magazine reported that Hanergy-owned Alta Devices, the world record efficiency holder for single-junction solar cells, furloughed almost all of its Sunnyvale, California staff without pay, notice, or PTO. This was according to several of the almost 250 employees affected.
The statement we received from Charles Marino, the COO at Alta, tried to tell a more positive story:
“I am pleased to announce that an agreement has been reached between Alta Devices and Hanergy, to allow Alta to bring in outside investors to breathe new life into the company, and to get the thin film GaAs technology leader back on track. We are encouraged by this agreement that allows us to raise funding and we know that we still have a lot of work ahead of us.”
Why Hanergy is finally consenting to new investment after months of inaction remains a mystery. Skilled employees stranded without pay or health care are going to find new jobs. The good faith of customers and vendors is going to be difficult to regain.
Production remains halted at Alta.
Hanergy’s rise and fall
In 2015, Hanergy became the world’s largest solar company by market cap, and Li Hejun, the founder of Hanergy Group, China’s fifth-richest man. The Hong Kong-listed subsidiary of Hanergy, Hanergy Thin Film Power Group, had a market cap of $14 billion compared to the $5.5 billion market cap of First Solar at that time, an actual solar firm.
The company’s stock price plunged and trading in Hanergy Thin Film shares was halted in May 2015 after news that the company’s finances had been inflated by intra-unit trading. Hanergy was eventually delisted.
Unable to pay its debts, Hanergy was forced to sell its only real asset, a hydro power station to creditors a few weeks ago. The commercial future of Hanergy is uncertain.
Hanergy left its employees in the dark
Hanergy corporate has not responded to inquiries from pv magazine. Unpaid Hanergy employees are also having trouble getting information from their employer on payroll and the future of their companies. Employees have expressed concern over the fate of the thin-film intellectual property and know-how that might be lost.
The U.S. WARN Act requires that an employer provide “notice 60 days in advance of covered plant closings and covered mass layoffs.” There are exceptions to the 60-day notice for “faltering companies” and “unforeseen business circumstances.
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DAMIT, they bought up all the thin film companies and now they’re not going to produce any more or what??? What they needed to do is bring down the cost and sell it at a lower price!!! For the last several months I bought been buying the small portable thin film solar panel…. I’d have to say that they do overstate the power that you get from them regrettably…. But we need these thin film companies to keep going! This is really getting me angry….
Bruce, I tried for 6 years to convince them that they needed to get their price down to be competitive. I offered them participation in large scale floating solar to get to the economy of scale. To no avail. The last price they gave me last year was $0.95/W, which was the same as 3 years ago. How can I compete with companies that offer conventional panels on floats at $0.5 TURNKEY?? Sad story, but I was expecting that outcome.
Unfortunately, I was one of those laid off from Global Solar. This is more information than we had during the layoffs. The technology was decent, but the focus wasn’t on creating sustainable businesses. Hanergy seemed to only be interested in the patents and IP. In my years there, it was easy to see that Hanergy was led by people who had no understanding of how businesses operate, or how to make a plan to move forward and become profitable.
Sympathies on the way you and the technology was treated.
Eric,
Thin film has hope as long as it has a hearbeat.
Regards,
Dan
Ridiculous, Dan, as usual.
Eric,
The day is coming when even c-Si will be marketed as thin film flexible laminates. Merlin solar already has such a product with approx. 23% efficiency. Now with the stepdown of the ITC, customers will see a value of the integrated roof approach even if they dont need a new roof. You never know, the ITC may even be back on the table sooner than you think.
What has been accomplished is to prove that thin-film solar is possible. Lowering the cost is a matter of investing in processes and equipment that can make large volumes efficiently- and it takes time and work to figure that out, which is the step too often ignored in the rush to go from “Bright Idea” to “Profit”.
With the political fallout from the taxpayer-funded Solyndra debacle in 2011, thin-film startups were hard-pressed to find domestic investors. The Chinese saw their opportunity and they took it.
Dan,
The demand needs to improve. Certain interests want Flexible Thin Film to fail.
The demand is there, even at an initially high $/W. What is needed is production capacity, and to a lesser extent, cosmetic uniformity.