Power electronics giant SolarEdge announced today it will shut down its energy storage division. This will result in the loss of 500 jobs, mostly in South Korea. The company expects to save $7.5 million this quarter with this decision.
SolarEdge
“The decision to close our energy storage division was the result of a thoughtful analysis of our portfolio of businesses and product lines, industry trends, and the competitive environment,” said Ronen Faier, interim CEO of SolarEdge. “The measures also represent continued execution of two of our main priorities: financial stability through cost reduction, return to cash flow positivity and profitability; and focus on our core business lines of solar, PV-attached storage and energy management capabilities.”
SolarEdge will sell its energy storage assets including its manufacturing facilities for battery cells and packs. The company stated that this “does not impact the solar business sale of batteries for residential and C&I markets,” which implies it will continue to offer battery solutions through third-party manufacturing.
In a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, SolarEdge stated it expects to incur charges of between $81 million to $99 million for ending its energy storage division, mostly due to inventory write-offs, non-cancelable purchase orders and severance costs.
SolarEdge, an Israeli company, formed in 2006 to develop and manufacture DC power optimizers. Eventually the company branched into inverter and monitoring technologies before first associating with the energy storage market in 2015 with its StorEdge battery-compatible inverter. SolarEdge entered battery manufacturing in 2018 after acquiring a South Korean lithium solutions provider.