Maxeon closes French solar module manufacturing plant

Maxeon Solar Technologies has shut down a PV module manufacturing plant in France, citing a challenging price environment.
The facility was impacted by rising costs and taxes on raw material imports, according to a Maxeon spokesperson.
“The production price of the Porcelette plant no longer allows us to be competitive on the European market,” the spokesperson said in a statement sent to PV Tech.
Located in northeastern France, the facility was inaugurated in 2012. According to press release from that year, the plant had a 44MWp production line capable of producing 150,000 solar panels annually.
When the decision to shut the facility was taken, Maxeon was implementing a new production line for its Air range of rooftop modules that would have had a maximum capacity of 16MWp per year, the spokesperson said.
The news comes as Rystad Energy warned earlier this week that planned PV manufacturing factories in Europe could be shelved because of soaring power prices.
The consultancy said the energy-intensive nature of solar PV manufacturing processes is leading some operators to temporarily close or abandon production facilities as the cost of doing business escalates.
Singapore-headquartered Maxeon, which operates under the SunPower brand outside the US, shipped 521MW of solar modules globally in Q2 2022 as the company exceeded both its volume and revenue guidance for the quarter.
The manufacturer is currently scouting locations for a new solar factory in the US, as reported earlier this week by PV Tech Premium.