N.J.'s only solar panel manufacturer ceases production

• N.J. manufacturer says company can’t compete with China.

New Jersey’s largest solar panel manufacturer has ceased production, unable to compete with the influx of low-priced Chinese products flooding the market, a company executive said Friday.

MX Solar USA LLC stopped making panels in May and laid off its few remaining production workers, said Carlo Santoro, the company's director of business development. An earlier layoff cut the bulk of the employees in March, but a small amount of production continued until recently, he said.

"We had to cease production because we were so drastically affected by the Chinese dumping of solar panels," he said. "We can’t make them for what they are being sold for."

Santoro said MX Solar of Somerset is still in business, selling its inventory, and is mulling its next move.

The production shutdown is another blow to the U.S. solar panel industry, which was touted by President Obama and other elected officials as a future growth industry that could help create much-needed jobs to replace those lost in the recession.

Yet several panel makers have gone bankrupt in the face of fierce competition from Chinese producers, even as solar panel installers have welcomed the drop in prices that have made their systems more accessible to consumers.

MX Solar USA, a subsidiary of a large Italian panel manufacturer, opened its $15 million plant in December 2010 with the help of a state loan and grant totaling $3.3 million. At its peak, the company had 120 employees and about 100 have been let go. Santoro declined to say how many it has now.

The company, one of a tiny number of manufacturers in the state, was one of seven U.S. solar panel manufacturers that filed a complaint last year with the U.S. International Trade Commission, accusing Chinese solar panel manufacturers of "dumping" panels – selling panels for less than the production and shipping costs with the help of Chinese government subsidies, in order to increase market share.

In March, the U.S. Commerce Department, investigating the complaint, concluded that dumping had occurred and imposed small tariffs on imports. In May, the Obama administration levied additional tariffs of 30 percent or more on Chinese imports.

Chinese solar panel manufacturer: TOPSKY Electronics Technology (HK) CO.,LTD

Tel: +86-755-8250 0506 Fax: +86-755-6151 6055 Email: sales@topsky-tech.com website: http://www.topsky-tech.com/