SunbitsSass Peress – CEO of ICP Solar – Solar Blog

A wind powered car? That’s what reached 126 mph this week in the flat beds of Nevada.
Ok, so its not a very practical design for everyday living, however just imagine if we could improve wind turbine technology to be embedded in a cockpit like structure which dozens of tiny micro-motor driven turbines, rather than the one big clunky one above this car? I am not sure that wind-power is the way to go for cars, although a combination solar and wind powered car could be interesting (solar by day, wind by night).
Its great to see so much emphasis on finding applications for renewable energy. And all you have to hope for is a breeze…
Sass

About a year and a half ago, you couldn’t look at Solarbuzz without reading weekly announcements of new production plans. Now, in 2009, its the reverse .
So what we are seeing is a reversing trend on capacity from some, while others are moving straight ahead with production plan increases. This should tell you who is going to lead and who is going to disappear. Changing business models is what this recession is all about. Its not just a worldwide issue, its also an industry based one. The solar model must change and we see evidence of that happening now.
Eventually, industry will understand that at the plant level, its about building plants or running plants (solar farms). Those who try to do both are chewing off a very big bite. Look at more mature industries and see how they do it, and mimic them..for that is the future of a young and dynamic one (solar).
Stay tuned, its getting like a daily event to watch the changes occur. I predict the market will come back in latter 2009 in a fierce way. The question is who is left standing to grab it…and who will be bought out at cheap prices. The big ones will only buy the smaller ones with unique market positions. The others will become distant memories….
Sass

The first real casualty on American soil, Optisolar, closing its doors with hundreds of employees let go. Owners sold their business to First Solar for shares (no cash) and now looking for someone to buy equipment of which there is already tons on the market available.
Its sad for those team members who hoped to build one of the largest solar parks ever. However, the park will go on…by First Solar. Again, we go back to the makers of cells/modules buying up the power utility providers thus creating an integrated business model similar to any utility. So who are the standard utilities biggest threats today…solar cell makers who go for the projects themselves. Now the game gets interesting because it will be battles of giants in that game, which is sure to drive costs down, which is sure to help make quality solar products more affordable.
Consumers are getting more demanding each day. In this recession, brands win because they have the customer’s confidence. Products which were once a force, are now a farce, because customers don’t trust them…and trust is of great importance as the stakes in the game increase. Who you buy your solar charger from is not quite as important as who you buy your electricity from, yet the concept is the same.
It just gets more interesting for me everyday now…and though I don’t hope for more closings, they are inevitable in this kind of industry (micro) and economies (macro) realities.
Sass

The consolidation is well underway at the installer level. See the acquisition of projects vertically by First Solar and horizontally by project developer Recurrent.
So the giants are buying down (into the vertical from cell/module maker to installer) and across (from project manager/installer across to others less well financed). Its all about which business model makes sense, to own the customer and to project the capacity utilization of our factory (First Solar strategy) or to become the ultimate customer for those cell/module makers who prefer to stay where they are and focus on driving costs down and technology upwards (Recurrent/Suntech strategy).
First Solar’s make sense for them because they are a low cost provider of thinfilm modules and that fits a very particular kind of project (thinfilm cells are not the best for all applications due to their lower efficiency). Recurrent is becoming a utility power provider. Their model is driving project cost down using the best equipment (ie. technology agnostic). Is there room for both? Only the market will decide, and just as it has decided there is not room for all the players alive today, so will it choose who will be the ones that stay alive through this cycle. I look at companies like Canadian Solar and I wonder what is their unique selling proposition? How can they possibly compete against the giants who have the financial capacity to go across the crisis with their backbone still strong? If you look at all of the lamination plants closing, I believe that some cell plants are next. The game is getting bigger and bigger and the ones who do not have a clear strategy, clear vision and clear identity (ie. jacks of all trades) will simply not make it.
Interestingly enough, this market is a boon to ICP Solar. Customers are seeking quality products vs the crap some are putting out and we’ve now proven it with side by side sales comparisons in select retailers. When our products were placed in similar size retail displays, we outsold the competition 2 to 1. Stay tuned for a bunch of exciting developments for us this year as we continue to move forward our strategy of distinction and quality. The bottom dwellers of quality who were once a force, will soon become a farce because in a recession, consumers are much more careful to give away dollars, particularly in a category they know little about. So just as the macro economic challenges put pressure on cell/module makers to revise their strategy, so will those closest to the consumers who know that a consumer who is unwilling to spend as easily as before must have faith in what you offer.
Have a great solar day,
Sass

The beginning of the end for some solar companies appears to be near. If you look at the rash of negative earnings announcements, halts to planned production halts, it all points to a consolidation trend which first manifested itself at the installer level and will now push into the other parts of the food chain.
Several solar companies have overshot the runway and overpromised. This economic meltdown is having a double whammy effect until…government funds come into play in Q3 or Q4 to help fund the projects which private banking is no longer doing until its “safe again to come out and play”. Amazing how the bankers will take our money to pay for bonuses, yet they won’t take our taxpayer money to fund our businesses?
ICP is holding its own in this crisis and we are on plan. I guess its lucky that we anticipated this oversupply (without the clairvoyance of anticipating an economic crisis) and sold our last factory last year. We are now free to continue the R&D in new products which have begun to launch onto the market and will significantly ramp up in launches during this fiscal year.
I wish all of them the best, the survivors will be those that are the quickest to react properly, not those who are necessarily the largest (hardest sometimes to turn around).
Small is beautiful.
Sass