BP Solar to Shut Sydney Production Plant to Cut Costs
BP Solar said it will close its solar power equipment manufacturing plant in Sydney at the end of March to focus operations on lower-cost locations. (...) The move follows BP's decision earlier this month to end planned wind power projects in India, China and Turkey to focus on onshore plants in the U.S. as it concentrates resources on larger-scale ventures. (...)"Most of the new plants going worldwide now are about one gigawatt, so [this] BP plant is really small fish in the present market" said Vernie Everett, at the photovoltaics group at the Australian National University's College of Engineering and Computer Science. "Part of the problem is they are running out of space at the Homebush site."
The Sydney plant accounts for about 17 percent of BP Solar's total manufacturing capacity of about 300 megawatts, Mark Twidell, BP Solar regional director, told reporters on a conference call. The lost capacity will be taken up by BP Solar plants in China, India, Spain and the U.S., he said.