An employee at Strathcona Energy Group manufactures solar panels. (Photo: Nicole Kleinsteuber / Quinte News)
Some major changes continue at Strathcona Energy in Belleville.
The solar panel manufacturing plant in Belleville has seen a skeleton crew on the Sidney Street site for the past several weeks, as a major overhaul of several of their company continues.
Strathcona spokesperson Kelly Rumble tells Quinte News that the 20 staff laid off earlier this month, were actually staff held over from an acquisition in Toronto last year.
Rumble says in the new year, they are going to expand their Belleville site, bringing between 30 and 80 employees into the fold. He says they are under a restructuring, which includes the closure of their Toronto site, along with the selling off of their Napanee location by 2017.
One of the challenges the company has seen this year is, RBC decided to end the company’s financing agreement, meaning that Strathcona had to restructure their financial situation. Another issue was the government cancelling new green energy projects, which included work with Strathcona.
Rumble says despite these obstacles, the company continues to combine locations, train new staff and re-position itself to be a global competitor. A new management team is also coming into play.
No timeline has been given for when the new hiring will begin.
Strathcona Energy in Belleville (Photo: John Spitters/ Quinte News)
