Blog
Unit 3 Micro: Solar Panels and Economies of Scale
11th April 2011
General Electric has announced plans to invest $600m in building the largest solar panel factory in the USA - using the latest “thin-film” technology acquired when it bought the US firm PrimeStar Solar, General Electric is aiming to utilise economies of scale to bring down the unit (average) cost of manufacturing solar panels. This BBC news article looks at the background to the announcement.
The piece highlights one of the advantages of vertical integration. General Electric has agreed to buy Converteam, a French company that makes equipment to allow electricity from solar and wind power to be used by the national energy grid. This will mean that General Electric can offer customers a complete package including solar panels and products to connect them to the electricity grid. Chinese solar panels are cheaper (with lower manufacturing costs and a subsidy from the Chinese government) but they do not have this advantage.
Geoff Riley
Geoff Riley FRSA has been teaching Economics for over thirty years. He has over twenty years experience as Head of Economics at leading schools. He writes extensively and is a contributor and presenter on CPD conferences in the UK and overseas.