By Patrick O’Grady | Phoenix Business Journal
Monarch Power Inc. is trying to become more than just giant solar dish attached to a Tesla Roadster, and they’re doing it in a hurry.
The company over the weekend put in a bid on the Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. facility in Goodyear in an effort to find a manufacturing home for its Lotus device.
Right now, CEO and President Joseph Hui has his manufacturing set up at SkySong. While his other job is a professor of engineering at Arizona State University, Hui said he’s looking for a plant where his company can blossom — and do it cheaply.
“If they sell the plant, it would be pennies on the dollar,” he said.
Suntech folded up shop in Goodyear earlier this month, laying off 43 workers amid financial problems. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy a few days after announcing it was closing in Goodyear.
Hui would like to buy the plant and hire back the 43 workers. His goal is to eventually expand the plant up to 200 employees.
