World’s largest solar manufacturer to cut one-third of workforce

A worker at Longi, which makes wafer components for solar panels, checks a module at its plant in Xian, Shaanxi, central China. Photograph: Muyu Xu/Reuters

The world’s largest solar manufacturer has slashed nearly a third of its workforce after a cost-cutting drive that included telling staff to only print in black and white fell short and as a chill ripples through the renewable energy sector.

China’s Longi is to cut as much as 30% of its workforce, in an acceleration of cost reductions that began late last year, Bloomberg reported.