Evergreen Solar, Inc. announced its intent to shut down operations at its Devens manufacturing facility to better position the company to pursue its industry standard size wafer strategy and preserve the company’s liquidity. The company also provided updates on its industry standard wafer development activities and selected preliminary results for the quarter ended December 31, 2010.
The company intends to completely shut down the Devens manufacturing facility by the end of the first quarter of 2011. Michael El-Hillow, President and Chief Executive Officer, explained the considerations behind the company’s decision. “While overall demand for solar may increase, we expect that significant capacity expansions in low cost manufacturing regions combined with potential adverse changes in government subsidies in several markets in Europe will likely result in continuing pressure on selling prices throughout 2011. Solar manufacturers in China have received considerable government and financial support and, together with their low manufacturing costs, have become price leaders within the industry. While the United States and other western industrial economies are beneficiaries of rapidly declining installation costs of solar energy, we expect the United States will continue to be at a disadvantage from a manufacturing standpoint.”