Sun sets on Siemens solar division
German tech giant Siemens has drawn a line under its foray into the solar power business and is closing down the division, business newspaper the Handelsblatt reported on Monday.
A spokesman for the company confirmed that solar energy activities would end and a plant in Israel would be closed.
This is likely to cost 280 jobs there, the newspaper said.
The closure itself is expected to cost a mid-double-digit million euro sum, the paper added. This will take the cost to Siemens of its adventure in solar energy up to nearly a billion euros, it said.
Siemens bought Israeli company Solel for $418 million, as well as part of Italian company Archimede. But the new division never made much headway, and the Archimedes shares were returned, while initially a buyer was sought for Solel.
Siemens CEO Peter Löscher said last year the company would exit the solar energy branch, while at the start of this year Theodor Scheidegger, head of the solar division, left the company. His position was taken over by CFO Michael Axmann.
The Local/hc
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A spokesman for the company confirmed that solar energy activities would end and a plant in Israel would be closed.
This is likely to cost 280 jobs there, the newspaper said.
The closure itself is expected to cost a mid-double-digit million euro sum, the paper added. This will take the cost to Siemens of its adventure in solar energy up to nearly a billion euros, it said.
Siemens bought Israeli company Solel for $418 million, as well as part of Italian company Archimede. But the new division never made much headway, and the Archimedes shares were returned, while initially a buyer was sought for Solel.
Siemens CEO Peter Löscher said last year the company would exit the solar energy branch, while at the start of this year Theodor Scheidegger, head of the solar division, left the company. His position was taken over by CFO Michael Axmann.
The Local/hc
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