Fresh price reductions from China have battered Europe’s solar industry, pushing the German company SolarWorld into insolvency and erasing quarterly profits at SMA Solar. This is the latest in a series of blows that have struck the German company which was once the largest solar panel maker in Europe. Last week’s announcement caused Solarworld stock to plunge and left the companies 3,000 employees in a state of uncertainty as to their future.

Frank Asbeck, the chief exectutive of SolarWorld and at the height of the German solar industry was known as the “Sun King”, seemed distraught. Mr. Asbeck commented: “This is a bitter step for SolarWorld, the management board and staff and also for the solar industry in Germany,”. Adding to European solar woes is SMA Solar, the world’s largest maker of solar inverters which help feed solar power into the electricity grids. The company’s profits tumbled with a 90% drop in Q-1 operating profit. SMA Solar blamed “high price pressure in all markets and segments”

These battered companies stand in stark contrast to the European solar industry of yesteryear which, through generous government support was once a key player in the building of the global solar industry. However, as government subsidies fell and competitors rose from China to Canada, and the European solar industry was pushed to the wayside.

The European players who held on sought salvation in cost cutting measures. However, in the face of declining domestic support Chinese companies began selling abroad at rates which European companies were unable to match. Despite this, SMA Solar is not finished yet. In a statement earlier this year the company announced its plans to expand into the energy-management business where it hopes Chinese companies will have a harder time competing.