1. SUNPOWER Consulting Report
Section 2 – Team 2:
Herve Buffard
Peter Crayton
Jeff Iannaccone
Obi Okoye-Eze
Anup Shah

2. SunPower: Summary Key issues: 2012 Financial Results: SunPower Inc.:
Vertically integrated Solar Products Co.
Customers: Residential, Commercial & Utility-scale power plant customers.
Largest US installed base > 100,000 homes.
PV Technology:
Maxeon® cell Technology (X-Series)
World record panel efficiency > 21.5%.
44% more solar power,
8-10% more energy per rated watt..
Best warranty, performance, reliability & aesthetics
Industry Trends:
2012 Financial Results:
Key issues:
Downward pressure on price.
Though revenue is increasing, increasing costs result in lower margin.
DG: Need to provide constant power .
The Task Ahead:
Leverage Core capabilities and form new strategic partnerships to improve upstream and downstream business.
Near term: Power-plants:
Long term: Distributed generation - Residential and commercial.

3. Analysis: Environmental and Five Forces
Five Forces: Solar Industry
Rivalry: High
High concentration, low differentiation.
High exit barriers due to capital investment
Threat of Entry: Low to moderate
Barriers to entry: Learning curve, EOS, EOL & Capital requirements
Availability of Substitutes: High
Conventional power, nuclear, Etc.
Low switching costs
Power of Buyers: High
Overcapacity has forced prices down.
Low differentiation
Power of suppliers: Low
The Solar industry is not currently a very attractive industry, however the market has huge potential for growth.
Environmental Analysis:
Demographic trends:
Macro-economic impact:
Increasing price of oil, Instability in M.East.
Socio-Cultural Influences
Desire for low carbon emission electricity
Political/Legal pressures:
Many incentives for clean energy.
Nuclear: Fukushima disaster
Global trade issues
Technological Developments
Advances in PV and HEPV cells
Analysis demonstrates that the Global Electricity Industry is trending in a positive direction.

4. Analysis: Value Chain, Capability and Competitor Analysis
Value Chain Analysis:
Core competency = R&D & manufacturing.
Capability Analysis:
The company’s core capability is rare and imitable, but it is substitutable, and as noted by shrinking margins, the capability is not valuable.
Key Competitor Analysis:
Chinese Commodity Solar Panel Manufactures: Yingli, Trinasolar, and Sun Tech.
PV panel manufacturers only
PV panels are lower price, lower efficiency
First Solar
Vertically integrated
Focused on power plants only
Use different technology to create cheaper panels
Solar City
Does not manufacture
Residential market only
Purchases panels, installs for free and charges for the power provided

5. Conclusion SunPower has the following unique advantages:
Highest efficiency and most reliable solar PV panels in the market
Partnership with Total SA, over $600m in cash for process improvements and new projects.
SunPower must think beyond its current capabilities while leveraging its high efficiency Solar PV technology to create a new superior experience that provides the greatest value being sought by its largest customer groups.
We recommend that SunPower take the following steps:
Near term: Focus to the higher volume power plant segment. Leverage existing cash to seek out strategic UPP projects. High volume PV panel production will provide SunPower with needed learning to improve process and reduce costs.
Long term: Joint venture with Schneider Electric to access battery competency. To differentiate themselves in the distributed generation segment. SunPower's residential and commercial solution must be able to provide constant power required by the customers. Specifically, they need to be able to store sunlight for re-use during peak or other periods when sunlight is not available.

6. Q & A

7. Thank You 