I see many new announcements of signed up deals. Not like in 2008, but more reasonable sized announcements that have a greater hope of fruition than many of the “pie in the sky” announcements we saw on an almost weekly basis last year. This is the sign of an industry which is maturing, that realizes that it is subject to the macro-economic realities just like any other industry and that it must govern and manage itself using the same principles of other industries.
Solar is an industry that goes up and down like any other. The differentiator is that it is an industry whose future is assured, simply not in the structure which it currently has. There will be continued announcements of closures (one company which we were going to purchase is in re-organization) and acquisitions, yet there will come a point where the scale of the big ones will mean that the only other models which work are not those based on economics of scale manufacturing capacity, rather on flexibility and intellectual asset values.
This is an exciting time in solar. Many new technologies are coming out, many are maturing. Each will find their place in the chase of clean energy and all make our world a better place for our children. After all…isn’t that what its really about?
Sass