Swiss engineering company ABB (NYSE: ABB) agreed to purchase Power-One, a solar energy company, for about $1 billion.

ABB, headquartered in Zurich, is offering Power-One stockholders $6.35 a share, 57 percent above its closing share price of $4.04 on Friday.

Power-One manufactures parts and components that generate electricity from solar energy.

ABB expects the deal to grow its market share in the solar power market, despite the general struggle of the renewable energy sector. Several solar panel companies, for example, have filed for bankruptcy and liquidated due to increased competition from foreign manufacturers coupled with rising manufacturing costs.

In March, Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd.’s (NYSE: STP) China-based subsidiary was placed into bankruptcy by a Chinese court. The company, Wuxi Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd., manufactures photovoltaic cells and modules used in solar panels.

U.S. companies Evergreen Solar, Solyndra LLC and SpectraWatt all sought bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and liquidated. Q-Cells, Solon and Solar Millennium also had to seek bankruptcy protection in Germany.

Power-One, however, reported a profit of roughly $120 million in 2012. It employs more than 3,000 people, mostly in the United States, China and Slovakia, according to a company statement.

The deal for Power-One is expected to close in the second half of 2013.

The alternative energy sector has seen multiple deals in the month of April thus far. First Solar Inc. agreed to buy TetraSun, a solar panel technology company, on April 10. EDF’s subsidiary, EDF En Canada, with Enbridge Inc. (TSX: ENB, NYSE: ENB) agreed to buy the Blackspring Ridge Wind Project in Alberta, Canada, for $600 million. 

Goldman Sachs & Co. (NYSE: GS) and law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP advised Power-One on financial and legal matters, respectively. ABB tapped financial adviser Credit Suisse along with the law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. 

Energy industry