First Solar, Inc. and RayTracker, Inc. announced that First Solar has acquired RayTracker, Inc., a tracking technology and photovoltaic (PV) balance-of-systems firm that is an operating company of Idealab, a creator and operator of technology companies. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
RayTracker's entire team will join First Solar's Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) group, bringing expertise in solar technology innovation, reliability engineering, advanced PV system modeling, software engineering, product development and high-volume manufacturing. RayTracker's customers will be transitioned to First Solar.
"We expect the addition of RayTracker's people and technology will help accelerate our ongoing quest to enable a world powered by clean, affordable and sustainable solar electricity," said Bruce Sohn, President of First Solar. "We welcome RayTracker's innovative associates to our advanced systems development team."
"We are excited to join forces with First Solar, which shares our vision of reducing the levelized cost of solar electricity to that of fossil fuels," said Mark Henderson, President of RayTracker. "From early on in our discussions with First Solar, it was very clear that there was great synergy between the capabilities and technologies of the two companies." In advance of the acquisition by First Solar, technology developed by RayTracker includes its GC-SeriesTM single-axis trackers, its unique PV-PlatformTM Software Toolset for system design and operation, wireless infrastructure technology, and other PV balance-of-system innovations.