Robert Bosch GmbH will close a solar-panel plant in eastern Germany by the end of the year as the world’s biggest car-parts manufacturer trims back its solar- energy business.

Production at the 30-megawatt silicon thin-film plant in Erfurt, which has 130 employees, will be halted after the market environment for the technology declined “sharply” in recent months, Heide Traemann, a company spokeswoman for Bosch’s solar unit, said today by phone.

Bosch is seeking to avoid firings by transferring as many employees as possible to other positions within the company, she said. The closing will have no effect on the company’s facility in Arnstadt, where about 2,500 workers produce crystalline-based photovoltaic panels, she said.

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