A major residential solar installer, which already has slashed its workforce in Connecticut by dozens of jobs, will permanently close its three locations in the state and will layoff its remaining employees by early October, according to a notice filed with the state labor department.
Solar installer PosiGen laid off nearly 80 employees beginning late last month after President Donald Trump signed sweeping legislation that included curtailing renewable energy tax credits for homeowners installing solar panels.
PosiGen has locations in Wethersfield, Danbury and Shelton — and the company, according to the notice, expects to lay off its remaining eight employees by no later than Oct. 4.
The layoffs come as Louisiana-based PosiGen moves to cease most of its operations nationwide, unable to raise long-term capital to keep the company on firm financial footing.
PoisGen has focused on bringing solar power to low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.
“…although the company has obtained some additional financing from its lender and is still actively seeking additional financing from its lender, such financings only will permit the company to continue operations for a temporary period — at the end of which the company will shut down all operations and close its facilities” in Connecticut, according to a Sept. 12 notice filed with the state and signed by PosiGen chief administrative officer John Truschinger.
The Connecticut locations are at 100 Great Meadow Road, Suite 205, Wethersfield; 50 Ivy Brook Road, Shelton and 98 Mill Plain Road, Suite 2C, Danbury. The previous PosiGen notice said 78 employees located at, or reporting to, the facilities were to be laid off.
A solar panel is installed on the roof of a home. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
“The company no longer believes that it will be able to effectuate a sale of its remaining business in a manner that will provide for continued operations,” the notice stated.
In its initial notice filed with the state in August, PosiGen said its troubles were part of a larger disruption that “already has forced several other major companies in the renewables industry to cease or significantly reduce their operations.”
Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” backed by Republican majorities in the House and Senate ended, as of Dec. 31, a 30% tax credit for homeowners on clean energy systems such as solar panels, small wind turbines, geothermal systems and battery storage technology. The bill, signed by Trump on July 4, eliminated a broad array of clean energy incentives and credits.
Under the Biden-era “Inflation Reduction Act,” signed in 2022 with a heavy investment in clean energy initiatives, the 30% credit was extended to Jan. 1, 2035, with the credit being phased down to 22% beginning in 2033.
In August, Democratic legislative leaders in Connecticut — Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff — blasted Trump for pulling back on clean energy initiatives and hurting workers in Connecticut.
Parts of wind turbines sit at the State Pier in New London in August ahead of a press conference held in response to the Trump administration’s order to halt construction on the Revolution Wind project. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
Trump has targeted a broad spectrum of clean-energy initiatives, well beyond residential power. Last month, the Trump administration suddenly ordered that work stop on a nearly completed wind farm — the Revolution Wind Project — off the shore of Connecticut.
The wind farm is designed to generate more than 700 megawatts of power — 305 megawatts to Connecticut and 400 to Rhode Island — and would provide power to the equivalent of about 350,000 homes.
Connecticut and Rhode Island have sued the Trump Administration over the stop work order.
Prior to the PosiGen notices of layoffs, St. Joseph’s Center, a nursing home with 269 licensed beds, told the state labor department in a recent letter that the layoffs of 179 employees — including 76 certified nursing aides and 53 licensed practical nurses — were effective Aug. 9, the date of the center closure.
Reporting by the CTMirror was included in this story.
Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com
