Report: GE delays solar factory - Westfair Communications

General Electric Co. reportedly shelved construction on a solar panel plant in Colorado due to dropping prices.

Fairfield-based GE announced last fall it would build the plant in Aurora, Colo., at a cost of $300 million, with plans to hire 355 people along with 100 more in New York state. The Colorado factory was being designed to produce enough panels annually to power 80,000 homes.

Bloomberg reported those plans Â will now be delayed at least 18 months, citing information from a GE executive.

“Over the past six months, the industry has shifted pretty rapidly,” said Danielle Merfeld, general manager of GE”™s solar technology product lines, as quoted by Bloomberg. “We”™ve seen about a 50 percent price drop for modules over this period and there”™s a lot of unabated overcapacity out there.”