Powin said the decision was part of moves to tackle financial liabilities and secure its core businesses — which will include spinning off a new business entity to encompass its existing monitoring and energy services operations.

Powin has appointed current chief projects officer Brian Kane as CEO of the new business, saying he had successfully led the Powin Projects organization for the last four years and will be responsible for guiding the business through its launch and scaling its operations.

The announcement came just days after the Oregon firm submitted a notice of potential cessation of business operations to local and state officials.

Under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, companies with 100 or more employees must notify workers at least 60 days ahead of closures or layoffs.

Powin said in the letter that a layoff of nearly 250 employees would happen on or before July 28 if “present business circumstances do not improve”.

Last month, Powin unveiled its ‘Pod Max’, which the company said was its most powerful and energy-dense product to date.
Delivering 6.26MWh of capacity in the same 20-foot liquid-cooled container as previous models, the Pod Max offers a 25% increase in energy density over Powin’s standard 5MWh system.