Less than one year after opening a solar panel manufacturing facility in Arizona, Meyer Burger is throwing in the towel amid turbulent times for the Swiss company.
According to multiple sources (first reported by Hailey Mensik of the Phoenix Business Journal), Meyer Burger is shutting down production and materials handling operations at its assembly plant located in the fast-growing Phoenix suburb of Goodyear. The facility, initially planned to start pumping out heterojunction technology (HJT) modules in 2022, began operations in June 2024 with a 400 megawatt (MW) capacity and the room to grow to 1.5 gigawatts (GW).
The Meyer Burger plant in Goodyear, a beneficiary of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), was constructed to create 250 manufacturing jobs in its initial stage. It is not clear exactly how many employees have been impacted by the decision to shut down the company’s Arizona operations, although the total appears to number in the hundreds. Some outlets are reporting that as many as 283 production workers and material handlers have been laid off; others have clarified that not all employees have been let go.
The viability of Meyer Burger’s stateside presence began to come into serious question last November, when large-scale solar developer D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI) backed out of its five-year, up to 5-GW solar module purchase agreement with the panel maker. Meyer Burger had secured more than $250 million to support its operations in fulfilling that contract.
Meyer Burger was the only HJT solar panel manufacturer in the United States, and the company’s plans were even more ambitious than scaling its Goodyear facility.
In August 2024, the Swiss company announced the cancellation of a planned $400 million, 2 GW solar cell plant located at a former Intel semiconductor site in Colorado, deeming it “no longer financially viable for the company due to recent developments.” The plan was to have those cells supply the Goodyear assembly site, and as the former grew, the latter would also grow.
Meyer Burger delayed releasing the following financial results to draw up a program for “comprehensive restructuring and cost-cutting.” Earlier in 2024, the company also had to close its manufacturing facility in Freiberg, Germany.
Meyer Burger’s 2024 annual report was delayed due to the uncertainty outlined above, but is expected to be released by May 31, 2025. The company has reported that it has recently relied on bridge financing to cover short-term liquidity concerns.
“Meyer Burger’s going concern is materially uncertain and depends on significant new funding[s] as well as the successful implementation of its business plans,” the solar manufacturer said in an April statement.
