GE Makes Major Investments in Solar Power!

GE is jumping into to the solar power game in a major way. The energy giant has recently invested a staggering $600 million into the solar side of its business. This money will go towards building a massive ‘thin film’ solar panel manufacturing plant based out of Aurora, Colorado. The facility will have the ability to produce enough panels each year to power 80,000 homes.

Just like GE’s big march into the wind energy market earlier this year their participation in the solar market will create jobs – approximately 355 in Colorado to be exact plus others throughout the country – and the boost in competition will bring down solar prices across the board.  Solar prices have already been on a steady decline as new less expensive ways are found to create solar panels, with added competition this will only help matters. The market leader in thin film solar, against which GE’s involvement will be measured, is First Solar. However, there are many other thin film solar companies that will be forced to compete with the energy giant as well – such as Abound Solar.

GE has stated that the plant will be finished in early 2012, with the first panels being made very shortly after it is opened. These panels will begin to come available in quarter one 2013, once a sufficient supply has been built up to meet the potential demand of the market. GE has also stated that it plans to beat the competition through making their panels both larger and lighter. By doing this they will be able to continue to be competitive in utility-scale projects, but they will also be able to break into the commercial solar market. GE also points to their ability to develop technologies faster and more efficiently due to their investments in research on a much broader scale than solar only firms – they have already shown this by implementing advancements in the medical field into the creation of their panels.

A major company’s involvement in the solar market will lead to a continued effort to constantly lower solar prices by all parties involved. With prices already dropping this can be taken as a sign of solar power’s continued sustainability.

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