REC Solar temporarily halts operations due to electricity prices – VG

The solar cell company REC Solar announces production stops due to high electricity bills. There is talk of as much as 26 weeks, according to VG’s information.

The production stop will be implemented within a few weeks. The trade unions must be informed.

VG is informed of this by a number of sources with insight into the process taking place at REC Solar.

The company produces polysilicon for use in solar panels, and was acquired last year by the Indian energy giant Reliance.

E24 has previously mentioned that REC Solar received an electricity bill of a staggering NOK 40 million in December – more than six times what they had expected.

Dagbladet has also mentioned the production stoppage.

– It is a temporary stop, up to 26 weeks. The Minister of Trade and Industry was quite clear that there will be measures that will hit this quite well. I tried to say that it would have been nice if they could have some ice in their stomachs and see what comes of measures, says Kristiansand mayor Jan Odvar Skisland (Ap) to VG.

– But I understand that they are adamant that it will be a temporary stop. Then they will probably assess when the measures come.

250 employees have been notified

CEO of REC Solar, Jan Enno Bicker, tells VG that the final decision on a production stop is not yet in place:

– That decision will be taken tomorrow, he says.

REC union representative Andreas Hadland Bolluk, on the other hand, tells E24 that 250 employees in Kristiansand and Porsgrunn have been told that production cannot continue as a result of the high electricity prices.

– The employees have been told that the company cannot continue with these electricity costs, he says.

Arnt Ove Melby, who works in the company and until recently was a shop steward, also confirms to VG that the employees have been notified.

– We have not been given a stop date or layoff notice, but there is a real danger that we will be shut down if the government does not step in, he tells VG.

Announces electricity support in September

When the government presented the timetable for the electricity measures on Monday, it became clear that any electricity support for businesses would probably not come before the consideration of the new national budget in October.

The opposition has called for a support scheme for the companies to be put in place more quickly, which is one of the reasons why the Storting is interrupting its holiday to hold an extraordinary electricity meeting next month.

On Thursday evening, Industry Minister Jan Christian Vestre confirmed to VG that the government will present the solution in September instead.

– We have already reduced the electricity tax and are facilitating more favorable fixed price agreements. We are also working on targeted support measures that will come to the aid of the most vulnerable companies already this autumn, he tells VG.

– According to the plan, we will present these measures in September at the latest, he says to VG.

VG also gets confirmation that a meeting is planned for Tuesday between NHO chief Ole Erik Almlid and LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik and the government at the Prime Minister’s office.

Red reacts

– This shows the madness of today’s sky-high stock exchange prices for electricity. It destroys precisely the industry we need a lot more of. The government talks late and early about building new environmentally friendly industry. Is there anything better than a company that makes solar panels using clean, renewable hydropower? says Rødt leader Bjørnar Moxnes to VG.

Among other things, he will meet Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre for a party leader debate with precisely electricity as the theme on NRK at 9.45pm.

– This is the consequence of Støre playing a role in right-wing politics by allowing a stock exchange to set the price of electricity from Norwegian hydropower to customers in Norway, says Moxnes.

He repeats Rødt’s demand for a maximum price for electricity, i.e. a ceiling for the price the power companies can charge for electricity to both households and businesses.

– It’s urgent. We cannot afford to lose important, environmentally friendly industrial jobs, he says.