From 2GreenEnergy Intern Louis de Saint Phalle: SolarCity’s Big Plans for the Future

Two weeks ago, SolarCity joined competitors SunEdison, First Solar and SunPower as the fourth vertically integrated solar company in the United States. In order to achieve this status, they acquired California-based Silevo, a manufacturer of hybrid solar panels combining thin-film and crystalline silicon solar cell technology.

SolarCity’s acquisition sure occurs at an interesting time.

Firstly, the announcement was made the same week as considerable duties were imposed on solar panels exported from the main Chinese manufacturers, and additional sanctions could be imposed as part of the Chinese anti-dumping rulings. Although Silevo has a manufacturing facility in China, they will not be affected by these new impositions.

Secondly, stock prices have been doing fairly well despite some trouble in the past. Revenues rose 133% in 2013 during which SolarCity had acquired yet another solar company, Zep Solar. In early 2014, stock prices were a bit on the decline but shot up again in June. The company seems healthy and is making it known. After the announcement about the Silevo acquisition, share prices increased a further 17%.

Solarcity wants to lay the groundwork to ensure high volume of highly affordable, high-efficiency panels needed for unsubsidized solar power to outcompete fossil-fuel grid power. It currently serves 110,000 U.S. customers and its panels generate over 1 GW of electricity. But they don’t plan to stop there. They have announced the construction of a solar power plant with 1 GW per year capacity in Buffalo, NY, which would make it one of the largest solar power plants in the world. The icing on the cake: it would be powered by hydropower from Niagara Falls to help offset higher labor costs.

Scaling up has been the downfall of many solar companies; will they be successful in their endeavors? It seems like a risky move, even for a company that is so far ahead in solar installations market share.

In the words of their CEO during a Bloomberg interview when asked if their business model allows for solar to survive and be cost-competitive without tax credits relative to fossil fuels, “the market size for [solar] is basically infinite.”