vitamin_j

With Thin Film, U.S. Might Take the Lead in Solar Market

I would like to hear more discussion of these products in terms of "balance of system" costs. Greentech Media has put out good articles on this recently.

While I don't consider it an "either/or" proposition, I'm still skeptical about thin film because of its low efficiencies. If, in a rough comparison, you need two thin film panels for every one crystalline silicon panel, that's twice as many mounts, and twice as much space used per installation. Those two factors add to costs and limit thin film's advantage.

I'm interested to see how some of the new non-panel technologies look - Nanosolar claims to offer a skin you can just unroll on a rooftop, for example. They also claim higher efficiencies. Then again, they are famous for claims, not yet famous for results.

Suntech Power: Now a Takeover Target

That 50% thing appeared on the STP chat board last week and may have come from an article in China with potentially questionable translation. Anyone who wants to appear credible on solar can't just throw out such a figure without better citation or explanation. It's like saying, "Yes, and their plans for cheap cold fusion should also help them grow revenue." Huh?

Of course, this author doesn't seem very credible. Anyone who says

"As the top two solar companies, Suntech Power (STP) and First Solar (FSLR) dominate the European and U.S. markets respectively."

not only hasn't done their homework, they haven't even cracked the book. First Solar has sold almost exclusively in Europe, almost exclusively in Germany, and is just now moving into the US. Suntech is a similar story, though they also have some Asian sales. I'll take my information from someone who actually follows the companies, listens to cc's, thank you.

Finally, I would question whether anyone could just acquire Suntech without some intervention from the Chinese government. My sense is that they wouldn't just let their flagship solar company be sold off to the Japanese or the Americans without raising some barriers - similar to when the Chinese wanted to buy that oil company of ours.