May 29 (Reuters) - Solar panel maker Meyer Burger

shut down a U.S. factory in Arizona due to financial

troubles, cutting all 282 employees, the Swiss company said on

Thursday.

The closure is a setback for solar industry efforts to build

a domestic supply chain and reduce its reliance on China, the

world's top solar panel manufacturer.

Meyer Burger announced in 2021 it would build the Goodyear,

Arizona, plant to capitalize on clean energy incentives

introduced during the administration of former U.S. President

Joe Biden, who equated fighting climate change with creating

jobs and boosting domestic manufacturing.

A bill currently under consideration in Congress would end

or phase out many of those incentives, a key campaign promise of

President Donald Trump.

Meyer Burger's operations in both Europe and the United

States struggled to compete with cheaper products imported from

Asia. Less than a year ago, it canceled plans for a second U.S.

factory in Colorado.

The company said on Thursday it was in talks with a group of

bondholders about restructuring, but that the future of the

Goodyear site was uncertain.

The doors of the Goodyear facility were shut early on

Thursday and the company put up a sign saying the facility was

closed, according to two former employees.