What can $300 million get you in today’s market? If you’re First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) — the Tempe, Arizona-based manufacturer of solar thin-film modules — it’ll get you NextLight Renewable Power, a solar development firm. Included will be a 2.2-gigawatt pipeline of utility-scale solar projects across the U.S., including a big solar project in your home state, Arizona.
This is how it played out for the Arizona solar company on Monday.
Among the projects plucked from NextLight’s development portfolio is the 290-megawatt (MW) Agua Caliente Solar Project in Yuma County, Arizona. While the solar installation will be based in Arizona, much of the power generated will be sold in California. According to MarketWatch, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on June 3 approved the project’s 25-year power-purchase agreement (PPA) with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). Construction of the plant is slated to begin this calendar year. The agreement with PG&E was central to First Solar’s plans: high demand for electricity in the greater Los Angeles area makes for an accessible, prime market for the output of the Yuma County solar project.
NextLight is the latest company to be eaten up by First Solar, which has been gobbled up smaller companies over the past four years. In 2007, First Solar bought Turner Renewable Energy. In 2009 First Solar acquired solar pipelines from OptiSolar, and then bought out the Edison Mission Group earlier this year.
I think this is suppose to be good for First solar and other compaines in USA. There are many good effects of M&A. In this case , First Sloar can save R&D cost and can acquire the technology of Next-light