GE Solar Panel Factory on Hold

By Erin WeaverGeneral Electric (GE) had hoped to be the country’s biggest solar equipment manufacturer by 2013, but those plans have been pushed back to at least 2015. Construction on an Aurora, Colorado, factory has been halted while the company focuses on boosting the efficiency of its cadmium-telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar panels from 12.5% to more than 15% to compete with conventional crystalline panels flooding the market from China. The glut of solar panels caused prices to drop by nearly half in 2011, and a number of manufacturers have filed for bankruptcy, including Solyndra, Evergreen, SpectraWatt, and, most recently, Colorado-based Abound.