Local news organizations are reporting that solar panel manufacturer Silfab has furloughed workers at its cell and panel facility in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
In a statement to WCNC Charlotte, a Silfab Solar spokesperson said that the furlough was due to “temporary constraints affecting the availability of certain materials required for production.” The company temporarily idled production in Fort Mill earlier this month for the same reasons, but workers were performing maintenance and other tasks in the meantime. The company expects the furlough period to be resolved within three to four weeks.
Silfab Solar, a Canadian-headquartered solar panel brand, established its manufacturing base in South Carolina in 2023 and operates a panel assembly plant in Burlington, Washington. The company has received pushback for siting cell manufacturing — a more specialized manufacturing process than panel assembly — in the Fort Mill community, but Silfab has still sought approval from the South Carolina Dept. of Environmental Services and York County officials.
Heliene, another Canadian-headquartered solar panel company operating in the United States, laid off nearly 100 workers at its Minnesota plant earlier this month due to “unforeseen business circumstances.” Silfab did not reveal how many workers were furloughed this week in South Carolina.
The U.S. solar industry is navigating multiple tariff investigations and supply chain constraints that appear to already be affecting domestic players. Starting new antidumping/countervailing duty (AD/CVD) investigations into more countries causes the supply of solar cells into the United States to fluctuate, and recently announced tariffs on polysilicon products will affect the pricing of all solar panel products made domestically.