A spokesperson for the company told pv magazine that production will be halted at the Miyazaki Plant 2 around the end of this December. They added that approximately 200 employees will be affected by the decision, although, "The majority of the staff will assume roles either in our Kunitomi Plant or in our expanded sales force in Japan."
The MP2 manufacturing plant was opened in 2009 with a captial expenditure of US$150 million (JPY 15 billion). However, Solar Frontier says that due to the successful operations at its gigawatt Kunitomi manufacturing facility, which started commercial production of its CIS (copper indium selenium) photovoltaic modules last February, the MP2 facility is now being considered for the production of other solar modules, which are being developed at the companys Atsugi Research Center.
"The knowledge base we have in our MP2 staff will contribute to Solar Frontiers progress beyond R&D and manufacturing," said Atsuhiko Hirano, Solar Frontier Senior Vice President. "Solar Frontier is expanding on its leadership in the downstream market as part of its mission to deliver the most economical, ecological solar energy solutions on Earth."
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