Greentech Lead America: Â Falling prices and overcapacity of solar panels have forced GE to permanently scrap its plans to build the largest solar factory in the U.S near Denver, an AP report said.
The proposed solar plant had annual capacity of 400 megawatts and was about to create 350 jobs.
GE is also closing down its research center that developed the thin-film solar-cell technology for the plant, with 50 people losing their jobs, Lindsay Thiel, a GE spokeswoman, told AP.
The research center, formerly a start-up named PrimeStar, was in Arvada, another Denver suburb.
“We have decided that it is not in the best interest of GE, our customers or the Denver community to move forward with the build-out of this facility,” Thiel told the newspaper in an email.
“With the continued price declines of and overcapacity for solar panels, solar module manufacturing is very competitive, and only the most competitive technology at the most competitive cost position will succeed,” Thiel said.