Solar Power International starts tomorrow and I can’t remember so much buzz around the industry about “who will survive” this next round of price drops. The Chinese are known to react swiftly to market conditions and with a substantially lower labor cost, will likely continue to see their production market share increase globally over the next 12 months.
While announcements like the one of GE this week, do help rebalance things somewhat, the reality is that you simply can’t compete with $100 per month labor no matter what you do. Take the same factory in the USA, move it to China, and your savings will be in everything from the pencils you buy for the office, to the trucker who moves your stuff.
Its going to also be interesting to see who has taken the innovation route to help create margin opportunities that commodity plays lack. Last year at SPI, there was maybe one or two solar canopy makers, yet this year I’ve counted at least ten. And the interesting part is that its not just the standard solar companies getting into it, its construction companies seeing that “construction is construction” and looking for ways to offer their own clients “green solutions”.
PV meets construction meets finance. No wonder the real estate folks are getting into the game as well…
Sass