Toledo Solar shuttering operations due to issues with production

Toledo Solar shuttering operations due to issues with production

Tom Pratt, who was appointed interim president during a management overhaul in July 2023, said the company was unable to license technology it needed for production.

PERRYSBURG, Ohio — A solar energy company is winding down operations to permanently close its Perrysburg-based business.

Toledo Solar, Inc., is currently operating under a “skeleton crew” with its closure imminent, according to the company’s interim president, Tom Pratt.

Pratt, the managing director of Cleveland-based business consulting firm Applied Business Strategy LLC, was appointed interim president, treasurer and secretary of Toledo Solar by the company’s board of directors in July 2023.

Speaking with WTOL 11 on Wednesday, Pratt confirmed the business’ closure.

“The reason we are going out of business is we were unable to license the technology that we use to make a cadmium telluride solar panel,” Pratt said. “We got the manufacturing line almost completely up and operational but we needed to license some technology and the company that we were working with, unfortunately, did not license it to us.”

Pratt did not elaborate on why the company did not license the technology, however, it was not the only business to turn down requests from Toledo Solar.

“We looked at another business model but that also had some requirements where we would need some assistance or some cooperation from another company and they also did not want to work with us on that,” Pratt said.

It was not specified why neither company, which Pratt did not name, declined requests from Toledo Solar.

Pratt also said other issues for Toledo Solar involved doing a proof of concept, which would have led to investors willing to support a new manufacturing line, and the aging facility itself.

“Part of the challenge was working with technology that was 20 years old,” Pratt said. “It was the former Willard & Kelsey (Solar Group) facility and we inherited a lot of that equipment and it provided its own challenges.”

There are no plans to reopen Toledo Solar or continue operations, according to Pratt. 

“Toledo Solar as you once knew it is no longer going to exist,” Pratt said. “Obviously, I’m disappointed for the team that I was working with, that I inherited. There are a lot of good people who stayed on in an effort to turn it around and it was not without hard work and effort. We had identified a couple paths of opportunity but again, we just couldn’t get cooperation from other players to work with us on it. And I think most of the employees will definitely land on their feet.”

Toledo Solar was gradually cutting its workforce, Pratt said, with most employees let go throughout the year.

“There’s a skeleton crew there right now that’s helping wind down. We’re basically decommissioning the plant,” he said. “We’re getting all of the manufacturing equipment out of there.”

City of Perrysburg spokesperson Marie Dunn said that the only communication from Toledo Solar prior to the closure was through the chamber of commerce in June.

Toledo Solar’s human resources director informed the Perrysburg Chamber of Commerce that the company would be closing operations on Aug. 31, Dunn said. Emails from the city were not returned and the company’s phones were already down.

In May 2023, the company announced plans to manufacture windows that also functioned as solar panels. Toledo Solar received a federal grant of $8.8 million for the project and then-CEO Aaron Bates told WTOL 11 that the company was expected to grow from 55 employees to as many as 300 within a span of five years.

RELATED: Toledo Solar investing in technology that turns windows into solar panels

Toledo Solar underwent a leadership overhaul in July 2023, on the heels of a federal lawsuit filed by First Solar.

In the May 2023 lawsuit, First Solar claimed Toledo Solar misrepresented the panels provided for the Ohio governor’s mansion as its own products made in the United States when those panels were made by First Solar in Malaysia.

RELATED: First Solar and Toledo Solar settle lawsuit after claims Toledo Solar passed off product as their own

To disguise the solar modules, it appeared that Toledo Solar etched a new serial number on the outside of the top glass panel of the module and that the company replaced First Solar’s junction box on the back of the module with a new junction box.

The terms of the settlement were confidential.

MORE LOCAL HEADLINES FROM WTOL 11 NEWS:

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