Should Tesla buy First Solar?

[Togg]

I think First Solar has a great product: Much better cadmium telluride solar panel technology; i.e. cheaper and better.

Trouble is they don't seem to have the business sense to capitalize on it. Their stock price just took another huge dive it seems because they missed a financial target. This is a shame. Someone needs to snatch up this innovation and fix up the production and marketing and then make a lot of money on it, i.e. sell it like crazy, because it seems to me like it's what we all should be using. (I'll let you look at the details of their technology yourself, rather than trying to re-explain it here. Take a look at their web site and at wikipedia. What you want to read about is the cadmium telluride technology.)

I don't know. What does anyone else think about this?

 

[sunwarriors]

Not familiar with First Solar and your post is 1st I've heard of them, but in the consumer market, if your installer doesn't use them, it's almost pointless since they don't work with First Solar or stock them. I used to only want SunPower panels when I started my research, but I don't think panels are different enough to matter for me now.

 

[Jedi2155]

Might be a low cost here, but the raw materials bother me since cadmium is quite toxic, and telluride is a rare element.

Cadmium telluride - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Low cost now, but if you scale up, will it remain low costs?

 

[dareed1]

CdTe is not currently cheaper than crystalline silicon, has worse efficiency, and has potential toxicity and scarcity issues. First Solar has chosen to target utility scale installations, so its panels operate at ~180V and 2 or 3 amps. The high voltage needs a different inverter topology compared to the ~35V produced by panels intended for the residential market, and will also need a interrupter device on every panel for safety. Their approach is not a good match for residential use.

IMO, this is not a good strategic fit for Tesla unless they want to change their business model completely.

 

[Ampster]

IMO, this is not a good strategic fit for Tesla unless they want to change their business model completely.

I agree. Right now Tesla needs battery capacity. Their financial and human resources should be allocated to that need. There is no shortage of solar panel manufacturing capacity.