• Friday, November 20, 2009 Latest Update: 4:41PM

greenlight

Ucilia Wang | October 22, 2009 at 8:00 PM 6 Comments

MEMC to Buy SunEdison

Silicon wafer maker MEMC (NYSE: WFR) plans to buy SunEdison for $200 million in cash and stock, MEMC said Thursday.

The acquisition would push St. Peters, Mo.-based MEMC into a new territory of developing solar power projects. SunEdison has been an early player in the business and snagged high-profiled customers such as Duke Energy and Walmart.

SunEdison's customers typically buy electricity from projects owned and operated by SunEdison.

Beltsville, Md.-based SunEdison has completed about 300 solar power projects, totaling about 80 megawatts in generation capacities, in the United States, Europe and Canada.

SunEdison will get to keep its name and operate as a subsidiary of MEMC.

The companies expect to complete the acquisition by the end of this year.

SunEdison has carried out layoffs over the past year as the solar market's growth has slowed thanks to the recession and a dramatic cut in government incentives in Spain.

Some of its former executives have gone on to start a solar panel manufacturing business, Sunworks Solar, in San Francisco.

‹ Older | A Month Later, A123 Systems Still Rising Nissan's Leaf to Tour U.S. Next Month | Newer ›

Comments [6]

  • insider 10/23/09 5:11 PM

    This will probably solidify SunEdison’s top position in the PPA market (in terms of systems, not MW). It will be interesting to see how it will affect technology choices outside the x-Si space.

     Reply
  • JoeJoe 10/24/09 12:03 AM

    Does anyone understand this purchase?

     Reply
  • Insider 10/24/09 9:15 AM

    It’s not rocket science. MEMC secures demand for their customers and itself while SunEdison gets access to modules with predictable and low prices.

     Reply
  • JoeJoe 11/3/09 10:35 AM

    It’s the missing connective tissue that bothers me… MEMC makes silicon and wafers… You’ve still got cells and modules to take care of before you’re ready to install. From my perspective a module maker getting into project development makes sense because you get some positive feedback between the stages. I don’t see the same sort of feedback between wafers and projects. Maybe this is the first of several purchases. My other thought is that this purchase makes MEMC more attractive in a takeover/merger situation. The purchase alone doesn’t make sense to me… But you’re right… it’s not rocket science.

     Reply
      • stevepluvia 11/3/09 1:11 PM

        Agree JoeJoe; Its like Hertz buying a failing engine plant because they want cheap cars.  I don’t get it.
  • Insider 11/7/09 8:19 PM

    Well, steve’s comment is as off the mark as they come. A more appropriate analogy is a steel producer buying a chain of dealerships—or Hertz for that matter.

    When a module maker buys an integrator they are creating competition with their customers, something that is attempted only as a last resort. Plus it would be difficult to find module makers with $200 mm in cash these days.

    Complete vertical integration works well only under very specific circumstances.

    In this market it would be foolish to buy a module maker anyway. Why take on an extra headache? Integrators and project developers is where it’s at.

     Reply

Green Light

Greentech Media's Green Light blog covers the full-scope of the greentech world, while expanding the range of our daily news reporting with brief and insightful blog posts from our Greentech Media editors, GTM Research analysts and numerous guest bloggers.

Archive

Links

Categories

Copyright © 2009 Greentech Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

.