The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. First Solar, the dominant player in thin-film solar modules, has bought the rights to build 1.8 gigawatts worth of solar fields from ailing OptiSolar as well as the rights to build solar farms on 136,000 acres of land that could ultimately produce 19 gigawatts of power. The deal marks a significant expansion of First Solar into power generation. The company bought Turner Renewable Energy, a solar farm developer, in November 2007. So far, First Solar has built a 10-megawatt solar farm. It has also signed contracts to build solar plants for Southern California Edison. The OptiSolar deals, however, dwarf them. The deal also likely marks the beginning of the end, or at least the beginning of a new much smaller era, for OptiSolar. The company came seemingly out of nowhere in 2007 to sign two of the largest utility solar deals up until that point: an agreement to build and operate the 550-megawatt plant for PG&E and a 210-megawatt plant in Canada. OptiSolar said it planned to both make silicon solar modules and sell the power that came from them. It raised over $200 million in funding and even appeared on 60 minutes. OptiSolar said production would begin in 2009 and by 2011 it would have one of the biggest plants in the world. But the credit crunch came. In January, it laid off about 300 of its 600 employees. Technically, that's what First Solar will do to, but First Solar has two decades of solar experience under its belt. OptiSolar isn't the first company to retreat and more are expected (see analysis here). So far this year, Ausra and eSolar have backed away from plans to own power plants. Instead, they will sell solar thermal equipment.