In an article over at Reuters today STR Holdings (STRI), which makes solar encapsulants to protect and insulate solar cells, indicated they are on the hunt for acquisitions.  Particularly companies that provide the raw materials they use in the manufacturing process such as resin and paper liner.  It’s a common theme in the solar industry as companies look for ways to cut manufacturing costs.  In addition to acquisitions, they are offering lower priced products that don’t offer all the advantages of the flagship product.

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"We are looking at acquisitions," Chief Financial Officer Barry Morris said in a telephone interview. "Before, we were a little more opportunistic, now it’s definitely part of our core strategy."

"I don’t see us going into module manufacturing. A nice kind of thing would be to buy an encapsulant manufacturer to give us a geographic presence," said Morris, who joined STR in 2002.

"We’d also be willing to look upstream … at some of the raw materials we need to manufacture our products, either as an outright acquisition or as a joint venture where we would have a little more control over input costs."