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There's no barrier to entry on anything solar-related. A wise investor would assume that serious competition will occur prior to reaching a trillion-dollar jack

by cjensen 11y ago

There's no barrier to entry on anything solar-related. A wise investor would assume that serious competition will occur prior to reaching a trillion-dollar jackpot.

xyzzy4 11y ago
You could buy every solar startup as soon as they get to X size. Also hardware startups do have significant barriers of entry.
- rhino369 11y ago
  Then you'd get stuck buying half assed divisions of a bunch of F500 companies who get into the market just to profit off you. Plus you'd need unlimited capital for this plan. And current solar companies might go bankrupt before solar hits the scale needed to compete with fossil fuels. And the DOJ would sue you for antitrust violations. Standard Oil did your plan. That sort of thing won't be allowed again.
  - xyzzy4 11y ago
    Many solar companies are international. They have highly optimized technology for reducing $/watt that can't be half-assed by Fortune 500 companies. Customer acquisition takes a while.
- BurningFrog 11y ago
  This provides a huge incentive to start and finance new solar startups, and gets very expensive for this presumptive monopolist.
adventured 11y ago
There are in fact barriers to entry on everything solar. It's: political connections, zoning, utilities, regulations, laws. Try putting up a huge solar farm without the right connections and insiders, don't grease the right wheels, see what happens. There's no bigger barrier to entry than that. See: FirstSolar's benefit from being tied to the Walton clan (JWMA / True North Partners). FirstSolar is basically the world's largest independent solar company, is flush with cash, and very profitable. It's not a coincidence they've fared so much better than the rest of the industry. "The Waltons own more than 112 million shares of First Solar, four times as much as the second-biggest shareholder" http://www.thestreet.com/story/11491608/1/wal-marts-waltons-gaining-more-active-role-at-first-solar.html http://www.thestreet.com/story/11491608/1/wal-marts-waltons-...

by cjensen 11y ago

There's no barrier to entry on anything solar-related. A wise investor would assume that serious competition will occur prior to reaching a trillion-dollar jackpot.

xyzzy4 11y ago

You could buy every solar startup as soon as they get to X size. Also hardware startups do have significant barriers of entry.

rhino369 11y ago
Then you'd get stuck buying half assed divisions of a bunch of F500 companies who get into the market just to profit off you. Plus you'd need unlimited capital for this plan. And current solar companies might go bankrupt before solar hits the scale needed to compete with fossil fuels. And the DOJ would sue you for antitrust violations. Standard Oil did your plan. That sort of thing won't be allowed again.
- xyzzy4 11y ago
  Many solar companies are international. They have highly optimized technology for reducing $/watt that can't be half-assed by Fortune 500 companies. Customer acquisition takes a while.
BurningFrog 11y ago
This provides a huge incentive to start and finance new solar startups, and gets very expensive for this presumptive monopolist.

adventured 11y ago

There are in fact barriers to entry on everything solar. It's: political connections, zoning, utilities, regulations, laws. Try putting up a huge solar farm without the right connections and insiders, don't grease the right wheels, see what happens. There's no bigger barrier to entry than that. See: FirstSolar's benefit from being tied to the Walton clan (JWMA / True North Partners). FirstSolar is basically the world's largest independent solar company, is flush with cash, and very profitable. It's not a coincidence they've fared so much better than the rest of the industry. "The Waltons own more than 112 million shares of First Solar, four times as much as the second-biggest shareholder" http://www.thestreet.com/story/11491608/1/wal-marts-waltons-gaining-more-active-role-at-first-solar.html http://www.thestreet.com/story/11491608/1/wal-marts-waltons-...