CASE STUDY

1366 Technologies



Executive Summary

Solar energy is expected to the leading source of energy in the next few decades. The reason is that this source of energy is free and readily available. As the use of solar energy is increasing, the number of companies providing equipment for solar power is increasing. This rise in competition is good for the company because it is leading to the improvement in technology. Companies are also facing a challenge in deciding whether to be a solar equipment supplier or solar equipment manufacturer. These two business lines are completely different and offer a different source of income. Hence, deciding which business the firm should enter can be difficult. In order to improve the competitive advantage of the business, it is important to integrate IT with the business. This would ensure better management of the business and ensure competitive advantage.

Executive Summaryii

Attractiveness of the Solar Voltaic Industry1

Trade-Offs Between the Different Business Model Options5

Solar-Cell Equipment Supplier5

Solar-Cell Manufacturer6

Recommendations8

Business-IT Alignment8

1366 Technologies

Attractiveness of the Solar Voltaic Industry

Solar energy an inexhaustible source of energy, every second the earth gets 80,000 billion kilowatt. This is several thousand times more than all the power of the world. Only need to know how to use them. Tibet currently receives more solar energy than any place on earth. Today, the Tibet Autonomous Region of China has built more than fifty thousand solar-furnaces. Solar-heated dwellings of 150 thousand square meters, total area of solar greenhouses created one million square meters (Campoccia, 2009, 287-297).

Solar energy is steadily gaining a strong position in the global energy sector. The attractiveness of solar energy due to several factors:

Solar energy is available at every point of our planet, differing in the flux density of no more than twice. Therefore it is attractive for all countries, responding to their interests in terms of energy independence.

It is an environmentally friendly source of energy that allows using it in ever-increasing scale, without negatively impacting the environment.

It is an almost inexhaustible source of energy that will be available through millions of years.

The discovery of the photovoltaic effect was taken almost two centuries ago, but only just over a decade, started to have a really significant growth, due to launch bold incentives started in Germany in an innovative way. Financially motivated, just before the energy consumers gained power (and subsidies) to become owners microusinas generation installing systems in their own homes and businesses to generate part or all energy consumed.

Quickly, several other countries began to adhere to the solar incentive strategy of creating its own rules, which paved the way for the birth of specialized firms to gain scale, new manufacturing techniques and application source. This growth in the number of systems installed in the 2000s meant that prices become lower than any expert could predict, creating a virtuous application of solar photovoltaics circle.

Today, the source is already established and routinely applied in many countries worldwide. Germany has connected to your network around 32 GWp of photovoltaic systems, equivalent in power to nearly ...