Spire, Gloria Solar to liquidate systems JV

BEDFORD, USA: Spire Corp., a global solar company providing turnkey solar factories and capital equipment to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) modules worldwide, and Gloria Solar Co. Ltd of Tainan, Taiwan, a leader in PV module manufacturing, announced that they have reached an agreement to liquidate their Joint Venture, Gloria Spire Solar, LLC, which performed PV systems integration within the United States.

Over the past several months, with the pause in the market for PV systems, Spire and Gloria reassessed their strategies for their respective solar product lines and reached the decision that the best course of action was to dissolve GSS. The companies agreed to an allocation of the remaining assets of GSS including cash, after all liabilities have been paid. Each company will also receive a share of project leads. Spire Solar Systems will continue to support the current customer base.

Spire will re-establish this business as “Spire Solar Systems”, which will continue to provide PV systems integration for the U.S. market. Spire Solar Systems will be located at Spire’s headquarters in Bedford, Massachusetts.

To maintain continuity with the existing client base, it will be staffed by several key employees from GSS and will operate under Stephen Hogan, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Spire Corporation, as acting CEO of Spire Solar Systems.

“This new direction will free Spire to develop new opportunities emerging rapidly in the US systems market, stimulated by the federal funding,” said Roger G. Little, Chairman and CEO of Spire. “Also, Spire Solar Systems can provide an outlet for modules manufactured by our turnkey module line customers. Additionally we can provide systems design, training, and integration services to these customers. This approach supports our overall strategy of encouraging distributed local module manufacturing.”