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