Solar Trust of America files Chapter 11
Solar Trust of America, the once-promising Oakland-based subsidiary of German company Solar Millennium AG, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday, just another sign of a German solar shakeout.
Germany led the globe in solar with aggressive incentives that buoyed a vibrant solar industry in that country over the last decade. Many of its solar companies expanded across the world, bringing their technology and products to new markets.
Solar Trust was one of those. It applied for and won a coveted $2.1 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy but it never collected on that guarantee -- it withdrew from the program in August 2011. In April of 2011, Solar Trust's CEO Uwe Schmidt, said the company had 90 employees and planned to hire 110 more by the end of 2011. It's unclear how many they had as of Monday's filing.
Instead it's selling its solar portfolio and the rest of its assets and is likely to lay off most or all its workers.
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