About 30 employees are reportedly being laid off at a Bend based Alternative Energy Company.  IDA-Tech  opened its doors in Bend in 1996, and had a few large contracts for sustainable back-up power systems and fuel cell technology.  One former employee says 50 of the 140 workers in Bend and Tijuana are being laid off.

She told our news partner, News Channel 21, that the Research and Development Department took the biggest hit:  “They just decided they are going to promote the one product that's already in production and all R & D items are actually going to be put on hold."  The firm's big customers include telecommunications companies that need back-up power to supply their networks when the electrical grid goes down.