Solar energy R&D and manufacturing company, Silex Solar, has announced a restructure of its silicon PV panel business at Sydney Olympic Park that will result in cells made by Silex being replaced by "third party cells from a new strategic partner", believed to be Chinese, with the loss of around 30 Australian jobs.

 

However Silex Solar has stated it will continue to manufacture solar panels at the Olympic Park plant, including its new ‘Black Series’ high performance panels whose rating of up to 275 Watts per panel is amongst the highest in the world in terms of peak power density.

 

The newly appointed CEO of Silex Solar, Craig Menzies, said the changes had been made to secure the company’s long-term future.

 

Silex was the only company in Australian to manufacture the solar cells, which were invented at the University of New South Wales.

 

Silex Solar and its consortium partner Todae Solar recently completed installation of solar panels at Parliament House in Canberra, generating peak system capacity of 43 kilowatts.