Advanced Energy shutting down its solar-inverter business

FORT COLLINS — Advanced Energy Industries Inc. (Nasdaq: AEIS) announced Monday that it will close its solar-inverter business, laying off an undisclosed number workers who operated under AE Solar Energy Inc., AEI Power GmbH and their subsidiaries.

Yuval Wasserman, president and chief executive of Fort Collins-based Advanced Energy, said in a prepared statement that during the past six months the company has explored alternatives for its sagging solar-inverter business, including a potential sale, joint venture, partnership, spin-off, licensing and other alternatives.  The solar-inventor business primarily focused on…