Troubled thin-film solar panel maker Toledo Solar announced today that it would be ending operations and R&D efforts immediately.
The company allegedly started manufacturing cadmium-telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar panels for the residential and non-utility market in 2021 on a 100-MW capacity line in Perrysburg, Ohio. The company started in the backyard of CdTe giant First Solar, and company executives said it would not compete with First Solar, instead focusing on supplying panels to smaller markets. Toledo Solar would make a small 115-W panel similar in size to First Solar’s phased-out Series 4 module.
The problems started almost immediately. First Solar filed a complaint in 2023 alleging that Toledo Solar wasn’t making solar panels at all and instead was taking old First Solar panels and rebranding them as Toledo Solar.
The two companies settled the lawsuit, and Toledo Solar’s then-CEO Aaron Bates was ousted from the company. Applied Business Strategy LLC was hired in July 2023 to turn the company around.
Tom Pratt, managing director of Applied Business Strategy and interim president of Toledo Solar, announced today that the Ohio facility will be decommissioned.
“Unfortunately, we were unable to license certain technology needed to manufacture the cadmium-telluride panels we were developing for the residential, commercial and industrial markets we were targeting,” Pratt said. “Once it was determined that we did not have access to the appropriate technology, we pivoted to a different business model, but the hurdles to success were determined to be too high. Ultimately, the Toledo Solar Board determined that there was no viable path to continue the business, and they have voted to cease operations.”
Do you know if the equipment is still available? Was it R2R equipment?
It amazes me that a company like Toldeo, did not start out with a viable plan and should not have been involved with First Solar, settling a lawsuit with First Solar was not cheap. Many startups do not make it in the first three years. This is due to the following conditions. Management that was hired that did not have start up expersie in the industry. Under capaitalized as they did not plan for a slow more costly start up over the first three years. Not conducting marketing research on the size and wattge of the panels they took to market.