SolarEdge

[EV2BFREE]

Given the relationship between the PowerWalls and SolarEdge's StorEdge solution, would it make sense to bring SolarEdge into the Gigafactoy to build the units there?

SolarEdge does seem to be a rather important company to Elon Musk considering it helps to link the batteries sold by Tesla Motors with the solar installations sold by Solar City. I would imagine Tesla would not want any bottleneck issues with the PowerWalls like that have had with their car suppliers so far.

 

[MikeC]

I hold a small amount of SEDG and SCTY (and a large amount of TSLA) so I'm happy to see this thread here. I don't know the answer to your question but since SEDG is a small (but growing) company, I'm not sure that they have the capacity or resources to expand to the GF. I think it would be good for the share price if they did, though.

 

[jhm]

We do occasionally discuss SolarEdge in the SolarCity thread.

I'm not sure there is any advantage to collocation SolarEdge inverter production with Tesla Powerwalls as these are not integrated products. However, it may make sense to collocatensure in Buffalo at SolarCity’s panels factory. Specifically, the DC power optimizers are installed one per panel. So there can be advantages to integrating panels and optimizers at the factory. At a minimum this could reduce labor costs at the site of installation.

 

[EV2BFREE]

jhm,
From the Q4 Earnings presentation the cost per Watt was listing as:
Sales $.56
Installation $1.90
G&A $.25

When Solar City acquired Silevo in June of 2014, both Lyndon Rive and Musk mentioned further acquisitions.

"It’s no secret that SolarCity sees vertical integration as the fastest way to lower the cost of solar energy. But the company wants to go deeper than any other competitor by potentially adding power electronics and battery storage into its production strategy.
Lyndon Rive hinted at future acquisitions of inverter suppliers and a strategy to add storage into the production facility. “Anything that will reduce our total installed cost, we will be interested in acquiring,” he said."

Also from Musk:
Musk also described the need for deeper integration in order to stay competitive: “We’ll be actively looking at additional companies to acquire as well as building up engineering to achieve that goal.”

The question is, where does the money come from if they would attempt at scooping up SolarEdge which is currently valued at ~$1billion? When Solar City purchased Silveo, Solar City's market cap was near $6billion versus the $2.2billion today.

 

[EV2BFREE]

Tesla mentioned guidance of $44 million in revenue and 116MWh of storage in their most recent 14A filing for FY2016. SolarEdge has been reluctant to give any guidance regarding their products that supply Tesla's Powerwalls. We could see a potential boost to SolarEdge's guidance if they include those numbers when they release earnings on May 9th.
Could be an opportunity to hold some call options, I am anticipating a big jump.

 

[jhm]

I'd like to see SolarEdge and Tesla get into some joint product innovation. We know that SE has been developing an inverter optimized for TE batteries. The next logical step I think is to make an integrated product. Think of a Powerpack as rack with say a 40 kW inverter and 8 slots for 10 kWh battery modules. This would be for a commercial solar installations where you want to pair upto 40 kW of PV with 10 to 80 kWh of storage. The advantage here are as follows.

• Installer saves on installation labor as the integrated Powerpack is preconfigured and wired in the factory. Field installers simply plug PV panels into Powerpack and cable AC output. Plug and play.
• Inverter and batteries are protected in a shared a container. This increases the life of the inverter.
• The Powerpack is hot-swappable for easy maintenance and upgrades. This also allows for right-sizing the battery ratio over time.

So the key thing is to have an integrated product that minimize field labor cost for installation and maintenance.

 

[SW2Fiddler]

I'd like to see SolarEdge and Tesla get into some joint product innovation.

...the key thing is to have an integrated product that minimize field labor cost for installation and maintenance.

Not an expert, but it would please my sense of design efficiency for SolarEdge to make a StorEdge inverter module that plugs right into the top shelf space of a PowerPack.
Right now we add a StorEdge inverter (which is a scootch longer than the PowerEdge) and for grid-tie we also add an auto-transformer. So there could be different tray modules for grid-tie and non, and I assume for different input ratings. Tesla Energy would need to create/agree on the interconnect standard, for one tray to be able to hold a storage module or a StorEdge Module. (or...?)

One theory is that this has already [started happening] - to paraphrase the late great Douglas Adams.

 

[jhm]

Not an expert, but it would please my sense of design efficiency for SolarEdge to make a StorEdge inverter module that plugs right into the top shelf space of a PowerPack.
Right now we add a StorEdge inverter (which is a scootch longer than the PowerEdge) and for grid-tie we also add an auto-transformer. So there could be different tray modules for grid-tie and non, and I assume for different input ratings. Tesla Energy would need to create/agree on the interconnect standard, for one tray to be able to hold a storage module or a StorEdge Module. (or...?)

One theory is that this has already [started happening] - to paraphrase the late great Douglas Adams.

Yeah, that's the stuff. IIRC, SolarEdge does their R&D in Fremont, and they have a lot of contact with Tesla developers.

 

[EV2BFREE]

IF this deal goes through for Tesla to purchase Solar City, there will only be one company left in Elon's quest for vertical integration. SolarEdge makes the inverters that connect the offerings from Solar City to the offerings from Tesla.

 

[travwill]

Definitely voting No when given the chance on this acquisition

 

[NeverFollow]

Definitely voting No when given the chance on this acquisition

For what reason(s)?

Make sens for me:
- cost cutting (management, R&D),
- better integration with other Tesla products,
- Tesla name certainly would help for establishing leadership.

 

[SW2Fiddler]

Definitely voting No when given the chance on this acquisition

I'm For it so far.
Thinking utility scale, on all the energy products.

I don't think it's wise to get in the way of a "charging Buffalo."