Greentech Media and Intersolar orchestrated a steel cage death match between some opposing manufacturing philosophies.

In one corner was Shammy Khan of Flextronics with the EMS model and in the other corner was Roger Little of Spire Solar and his "10-megawatt factories everywhere" concept. Adrian Maynes of M+W Zander stood outside the ring and threw a few chairs.

According to Mr. Little – module factories can run as low as 10 megawatts and reach scale and be profitable.  According to Little, a 50-megawatt factory can produce 226-watt modules at 15.5 percent efficiency and yield $17 million EBITA.  Roger also suggested that a 1-kilowatt module can drive the cost of the system down – you'd have to build it on-site but you would save 30 cents per watt.

Shammy Khan of Flextronics, suggested that the a more centralized EMS manufacturing approach was more appropriate for this industry and the sweet spot for CM companies starts at balance of system and works up from there.

Maynes of M+W Zander spoke of scaling-up manufacturing and 100-megawatt factories being more in the sweet spot for solar manufacturing. He believes that economies of scale will become increasingly more important and drive cost improvement and time to market.