Solar Energy Boom Soon to Explode Even More
by David Sassoon - Oct 4th, 2007
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Fortune's Marc Gunther writes: the business of making electricity from the sun is about to go mainstream in a big way. In an article filled with hard numbers, Gunther shines a light on a boom that is showing no signs of slowing down. And get this -- one of the biggest current winners is a guy who is both a staunch opponent of government subsidies and a global warming skeptic.
His name is T.J. Rodgers, CEO of chipmaker Cypress Semiconductor, and he came to the rescue of a faltering solar company called SunPower that is now going great guns. Rodgers can't stand Al Gore. He can't listen to Jeff Immelt of GE or Lee Scott of Walmart or Peter Darbee of PG&E. "All righty then. Let the record show that Rodgers did not rescue SunPower to save the planet," Gunther writes.
What better evidence is there of the business case to be made for climate action? Putting a price on carbon will only make this industry explode.
The Holy Grail? Something called "grid parity." Translation: generating your own solar energy costs you no more than buying electricity retail off the grid. Rodgers is placing a big bet that that day is not far off, and in any case he's already made a killing. Sunpower's stock price went from $18 to over $80 in two years, a rise of 450%.
There's an ad campaign in here somewhere: America is bullish on global warming, even though Rodgers would likely decline to be the poster boy.
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