GT Solar announced that it had shuttered it's monosilicon furnace plant and cell line last Thursday, January 10. At that time it was indicated that GT would consolidate the St. Louis operations at its headquarters facility in Nashua, NH. GT Solar purchased the St. Louis company, Confluence Solar, in August of 2011 for $60 million.
At the time of acquisition GT had planned to generate annual revenues in the range of $300 to $400 million, primarily from equipment sales. The company informed the St. Louis Business Journal in the summer of 2012 that it had invested some $27.5 million since acquisition to bring the technology to commercialization and expected to spend nearly another $11 million by years end.
As Confluence Solar was an ingot furnace technology startup when GT acquired the company, it appears that the investments GT made post acquisition were to provide wafering and cell production capability to the St. Louis plant.
Today, GT Solar has announced that the solar cell equipment will be offered for sale. Specific equipment is not yet detailed, but it appears to be the wafering, cell production, and associated equipment that was installed for commercialization of the furnace technology.
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