Tom Pratt, who was appointed interim president throughout a administration overhaul in July 2023, mentioned the corporate couldn’t license the expertise it wanted for manufacturing.
PERRYSBURG, Ohio – A photo voltaic power firm is suspending operations to completely shut a Perrysburg-based enterprise.
Toledo Solar, Inc., is at the moment working beneath a “skeleton crew” that’s about to shut, in response to the corporate’s interim president Tom Pratt.
Pratt, the managing director of Cleveland-based enterprise consulting agency Applied Business Strategy LLC, was appointed interim president, treasurer and secretary of Toledo Solar by the corporate’s board of administrators in July 2023.
Speaking to WTOL 11 on Wednesday, Pratt confirmed the enterprise’ closure.
“The cause we’re out of enterprise is we will not license the expertise we use to make a cadmium telluride photo voltaic panel,” Pratt mentioned. “We bought the manufacturing line virtually up and working however we needed to license a number of the expertise and the corporate we had been working with, sadly, did not license it to us.”
Pratt didn’t elaborate on why the corporate didn’t license the expertise, nonetheless, it’s not the one enterprise that has refused requests from Toledo Solar.
“We checked out one other enterprise mannequin however that had some necessities the place we would have liked assist or cooperation from one other firm they usually did not need to work with us on that both,” Pratt mentioned.
It was not decided why neither firm, which Pratt didn’t identify, declined requests from Toledo Solar.
Pratt additionally mentioned different points for Toledo Solar contain making a proof of idea, which might carry traders prepared to help a brand new manufacturing line, and the getting older facility. itself.
“Part of the problem is working with expertise that is 20 years outdated,” Pratt mentioned. “This is the previous Willard & Kelsey (Solar Group) facility and we inherited numerous tools and that presents its personal challenges.”
There are not any plans to reopen Toledo Solar or resume operations, in response to Pratt.
“The Toledo Solar that you just as soon as knew is just not going to exist anymore,” Pratt mentioned. “Obviously, I’m disillusioned for the workforce that I work for, that I inherited. There are numerous good individuals who stayed within the effort to show it round and it isn’t with out laborious work and energy. a few avenues of alternative however be additionally, we can not get cooperation from different gamers to work with us on this.
Toledo Solar has been progressively slicing its workforce, Pratt mentioned, with most workers being let go all year long.
“There’s a skeleton crew on the market proper now aiding with the wind. We’re mainly decommissioning the plant,” he mentioned. “We took all of the manufacturing tools from there.”
City of Perrysburg spokeswoman Marie Dunn mentioned the one communication from Toledo Solar previous to the closing was by the chamber of commerce in June.
Toledo Solar’s director of human assets notified the Perrysburg Chamber of Commerce that the corporate will shut operations on Aug. 31, Dunn mentioned. Emails from town weren’t returned and the corporate’s telephone numbers had been down.
In May 2023, the corporate introduced plans to create home windows that additionally operate as photo voltaic panels. Toledo Solar acquired a federal grant of $8.8 million for the undertaking and CEO Aaron Bates instructed WTOL 11 the corporate is anticipated to develop from 55 workers to as many as 300 inside 5 years.
RELATED: Toledo Solar invests in expertise that turns home windows into photo voltaic panels
Toledo Solar underwent a management overhaul in July 2023, following a federal lawsuit filed by First Solar.
In a May 2023 lawsuit, First Solar claimed that Toledo Solar misrepresented panels equipped for the Ohio governor’s mansion as its personal merchandise made within the United States when the panels had been made by First Solar in Malaysia. .
RELATED: First Solar and Toledo Solar settle lawsuit after claims Toledo Solar handed off product as their very own
To disguise the photo voltaic modules, it seems that Toledo Solar engraved a brand new serial quantity on the skin of the highest glass panel of the module and that the corporate changed First Solar’s junction field on the again of the module with a brand new junction field.
The phrases of the settlement are confidential.
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