Solarworld Files for Insolvency

Germany's Solarworld has filed for insolvency proceedings, defeated by Chinese competition which has flooded the market with cheap solar panels.

 

"Due to the ongoing price erosion and the development of the business, the company no longer has a positive going concern prognosis, is therefore over-indebted and thus obliged to file for insolvency proceedings," Solarworld said in a statement on Wednesday.

 

It added that it was assessing if affiliated companies would also have to file for insolvency.

 

Earlier this year Solarworld announced staff cuts after reporting increased losses.

 

It was one of the few German solar power equipment companies to survive a severe downturn at the turn of the decade caused by a glut in production that led prices to fall rapidly.

 

SolarWorld, once Germany's largest solar panel maker by sales, was forced to restructure after generous government subsidies for generating solar power led to a glut in component supplies, throwing a large number of local companies including Q-Cells, Conergy and Solon into insolvency.

 

 

(Reporting by Arno Schuetze; Editing by Greg Mahlich)