NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Evergreen Solar(ESLR_) announced after the close on Tuesday that it was closing down its Devens, Massachusetts solar manufacturing plant.
While the handwriting may have been on the wall that all was not well in Devens, ever since Evergreen Solar decided to move a large portion of its wafer manufacturing to China, the reasons behind the Evergreen shutdown may be a negative data point for the entire solar sector.
Evergreen Solar said in a statement, "Although production costs at our Devens facility have steadily decreased, and are now below originally planned levels and lower than most western manufacturers, they are still much higher than those of our low cost competitors in China. We have consistently stated during quarterly conference calls throughout 2010 that we would continue to manufacture in Devens as long as it was economically feasible. During the month of December, we experienced a 10% decrease in average selling prices from the beginning of the fourth quarter. As industry selling prices continue their rapid declines into 2011, panel manufacturing in Devens, either fully or partially, is no longer economically feasible."