SolFocus, a maker of concentrator solar energy systems, said Tuesday it has acquired Inspira, a Madrid-based company that makes devices to track the sun so that solar systems can generate more electricity.
SolFocus, a Mountain View, California-based startup that last year raised $32 million, is working to commercialize its technology for solar power systems that use reflectors to concentrate the sun’s rays on photovoltaic cells.
It has been a customer of Inspira, whose devices can move on two axes to track the sun, a key feature that enables more sunlight to be captured and therefore greater output of electricity, according to Nancy Hartsoch, vice president of marketing at SolFocus. Under the terms of the acquisition, Inspira will become a wholly owned subsidiary of SolFocus.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
“We can move our CPV [concentrator photovoltaic] systems into high production, and we can drive our costs down,” said Ms. Hartsoch. “But it doesn’t go anywhere if we don’t have access to trackers in high volume.”
The move reflects a trend in the solar energy industry toward vertical integration, said Piper Jaffray senior analyst, Jesse Pichel.
“Concentrator companies need trackers,” Mr. Pichel said. “Vertical integration makes sense at the current moment in the solar supply chain … because margin is inflated across the whole supply chain.”
But he predicted that companies focused on developing specific technologies, as opposed to vertically integrated groups, will likely make the breakthroughs necessary to make solar power cost competitive with conventionally generated electricity.
“They can outspend on R&D and focus on what they know how to do,” he said.
Ms. Hartsoch said Inspira, which was founded in 1995, would continue to supply about half a dozen customers, which include traditional flat panel producers and concentrator system makers. SolFocus will help Inspira ramp up production of its trackers through manufacturing facilities in China, as well as in India.