AUBURN HILLS – Solar panel maker Energy Conversion Devices on Tuesday filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission an announcement of a huge loss for its third fiscal quarter ended March 31 and the resignation of president and CEO Mark Morelli. The company also is laying off 300 employees, most in Michigan.

ECD said it negotiated a resignation agreement with Morelli under which he agreed to forego outplacement and other services that would have cost the company $950,000. However, under a previously negotiated separation agreement, he will still receive nearly $2 million in salary over the next two years, and will be immediately vested for options in about 200,000 shares of ECD stock, currently worth about $300,000.

The resignation comes on the heels of a sale plunge to $21.5 million in the third fiscal quarter from $79.4 million a year earlier. ECD posted a huge net loss of $243.2 million in its third fiscal quarter. Most of the loss was caused by an ?impairment charge? of $221.5 million, essentially a writedown of the value of its assets. The company said that ?due to changing market conditions in the quarter ended March 31, 2011, losses incurred to-date and a dramatic and abrupt shift in the Italian and French solar incentives structures, the company concluded that the carrying values of its assets may not be recoverable.?

The same thing happened last year ? the company said in its SEC filings that ?In the quarter ended March 31, 2010, due to changing market conditions, losses incurred to-date and the increased near-term capacity anticipated from the company?s technology roadmap, the company concluded that the carrying values of its long-lived assets, including goodwill, may not recoverable, and the Company recorded an impairment loss of $358.0 million.?

Thus, officially, the company posted a loss of $243.2 million or $4.88 a share, vs. a loss of $385.1 million or $9.10 a share a year earlier.

For the first nine months of the fiscal year, the company posted revenue of $159.4 million, down from $168.3 million in the first nine months of the prior fiscal year. The loss for the nine months was $264.1 million or $5.60 a share, vs. $436.3 million or $10.31 a share in the first nine months of the prior fiscal year.

The company also said it is laying off 300 employees, most of whom work in Michigan. That?s one-fifth of its work force.

Energy Conversion Devices blames its first-quarter woes on ?significant industry-wide disruptions in the company?s key European solar markets.?

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