Solar Energy Investing in Europe
Across the Atlantic we can find the biggest solar energy producers, and Germany is the 2nd in worldwide photovoltaic solar energy production, next to Japan.
Governments of European countries give the biggest incentives to Solar and other clean energies, and should continue the fast growth seen in the last years.
Q-Cells is even investing in Thing Film CIGS Technology, researching a new photovoltaic technology to complement its current technology portfolio. Q-Cells, the world's second-largest manufacturer of solar cells, is joining forces with Solibro AB from Uppsala, Sweden, to set up a joint venture under the name of Solibro GmbH, in which Q-Cells will hold a share of 67.5%.
Meanwhile Ersol, European traded company, is being downgraded because of the known shortage of polysilicon wafers.
The ErSol Group’s entry into thin-film technology opens up more future growth, while avoiding the dependence on silicon. In the short term it might be too late to avoid losses.
In a research note published this morning, the analyst mentions that the company has issued a profit warning for 4Q, reducing the 4Q EBIT guidance by 20%, due to shortfalls in wafer supply. ErSol expects a further margin decline going forward due to rising costs, the analyst says.
UK Yahoo FinanceMore information about this European Solar Stocks in Yahoo Finance:
Q-CELLS (QCE.DE)ERSOL (ES6.DE)Other Solar Companies traded on Xetra: ALEO SOLAR N (AS1.DE), SOLAR-FABRIK (SFX.DE), SOLAR ENERGY (OM9.DE), SES SOLAR (Q8K.DE), SOLAR MILLENNIUM N (S2M.DE)
(Be careful, some of these companies are penny or small caps with very low volumes)
China Solar Plant
Solar projects are growing larger and China announced plans Tuesday to build the world’s largest solar power plant in Dunhuang, a city in the northwestern Gansu province.
The plant will take five years to build, will cost an estimated 6.03 billion yuan (about $766 million), according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Last year Portugal planned and started to build the world's biggest solar power station, made by BP Solar, with 62 megawatts capacity, being complete in 2009, now being topped by china's 100megawatt central project, predicted to be complete in 2008.
The current biggest solar power central is in Germany with only 12 megawatts.
There are current projects that predict even bigger stations, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric are also working with startup Stirling Energy Systems to build two even larger solar farms—a 300-megawatt farm near Calexico, California, and a 500-megawatt farm near Victorville, California—using solar dishes and stirling engines.
Australia announced in October its bid to build the world’s largest plant, a 154-megawatt plant in the state of Victoria, expected to begin operations in 2008 and reach full capacity by 2013.
The race for the 'World Largest Solar Plant' has only began.
First Solar IPO
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) started trading last Friday, priced at $20/share and closed that day with a gain of 23.7% at $24.74.
First Solar is one of the latest IPO in solar cell companies that bring to the market the new and promising thin film solar cells, much like
Nano Solar and Miasole companies that should have their IPO's in the next year.
Solar Stocks Blog will post a more complete analysis of First Solar in the next few weeks.
Their Thin Film technology is described in their site:
While the theoretical benefits of CdTe and other thin film technologies have long been recognized, First Solar’s successful scale up demonstrates the actual production of high performance CdTe modules in volume, transitioning the technology from the “development” to “growth” phase. Multiple years of field data are now available to demonstrate First Solar’s efficiencies, high energy yields and excellent system performance ratios. CdTe module production facilities are today, even at the early stages of commercial production, achieving levels that required many years of production experience to achieve with traditional technology. Repeatable production processes have been fully demonstrated, enabling large scale expansion of CdTe module production.
read the rest
here
The Oil Effect on Solar Stocks
The Oil fell today 4%, and with it, the whole Solar Stocks sector.
The Solar Companies profit from a higher oil price because solar energy becomes more attractive and price-efficient. Lower oil prices have a negative effect in future investment decisions in solar cell buyers and even in government funding for the solar industry.
This relation can be simple but the market reactions are not that clear and/or rational on the short term.
Some solar companies might be more related to the semiconductor sector and because of that avoided a bigger fall.
The negative results for today are:
* Spire Corp. (Nasdaq: SPIR) 0.48%
* SunPower Corp. (Nasdaq: SPWR) -1.76%
* SunTech Power (NYSE: STP) -6.91%
* MEMC Electronics (NYSE: WFR) -0.48%
* Evergreen Solar (Nasdaq: ESLR) -4.59
* Hoku Scientific (Nasdaq: HOKU) -4.52%
* Energy Conv. (Nasdaq: ENER) -2.65%
* Daystar Tech. (Nasdaq: DSTI) 0.86%
Meanwhile, in the news:
SunPower's Powerlight Acquisition: Both Companies Win
Neal Dikeman submits : SunPower Corporation (Nasdaq: SPWR) on Wednesday announced its acquisition of Powerlight, one of the largest solar integrators and installers in the world.
read the rest in
SeekingAlpha
Solar Technology Market News
In the News:
Solar Companies RiseNEW YORK (AP) - Shares of solar companies rose in Monday afternoon trading as an analyst predicted future gains for the industry, now that Democrats have taken control of both houses in the next Congress.
"With a new democratically controlled Congress, we believe the solar industry has a better chance than ever to pass an extension and expansion of the federal solar investment tax credit,"
Read the rest
here.Financial Nirvana does some regular posts about Solar stocks.
They make a weekly comparison between Oil and Solar Stocks you can check it out:
Solar Stock Week-over-Week Price change vis-a-vis Oil Price - Week Ending November 12, 2006Democrats victory has turned the attention back to the Alternavtive energy sector. Solar stocks were up this week despite Crude Oil closing the week up 1.33%. The failure of Proposition 87 (pdf) in California didn’t cause a downturn either.
We saw a strong debut by Canadian Solar Inc. (Nasdaq: CSIQ) this week but all the gains were given back by Friday’s close. Canadian Solar IPO took place on Thursday at $15/share. The stock went up all the way to 16.73 but closed Friday at $15.08 near its offering price. I wrote about Canadian Solar Inc. (Nasdaq: CSIQ) IPO here. Let’s see what happens with Canadian Solar in coming weeks.
...
Evergreen Solar, Inc. (ESLR)
Evergreen Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESLR), incorporated in August 1994, develops, manufactures and markets solar power products enabled by its own process for manufacturing crystalline silicon wafers, which are the primary components of photovoltaic cells.
Evergreen solar is along with Daystar technologies, one of the worst performers of the whole group of solar technology stocks. But that may change soon, with not only Crude Oil going higher but with speculative future results of solar technology as a whole and Evergreen Solar in particular.
The downtrend on this stock is getting weaker, and harder to make new lows. Recent upgrades and the recent rise on the whole industry could make this company very attractive to the technical investors/traders.
Rising above $10 could bring some momentum in this stock, as the whole solar industry sector is being reevaluated, and if ESLR turns out to be the most undervalued stock in the group.
Evergreen Solar has a rising Gross profit in the latest quarters, and a steady net income this year, going into black probably in the next 6 to 12 months.
Probably not the most attractive solar stock in terms of fundamental analysis, but the most promising on a possible technical reversal in the next year if it breaks above the $10 barrier.
Zacks analyst recently upgraded Evergreen solar to $9.75
There is a more detailed financial statement in
Google financeYou can check more information on
Evergreen Solar's homesite.Solar Stocks Blog will be analyzing these solar tech stocks in the next days:
Spire Corp. (SPIR), MEMC Electronics (WFR), Energy Conversion Devices (ENER), SunPower Corp (SPWR), SunTech Power (STP), Daystart Tech. (DSTI)
Solar: Silicon vs. CIGS
Silicon Solar Panel technology is the most dominant material being use these days, but new startups such as Miasolé and Nanosolar showed that a new kind of material, that although being less efficient, is several times cheaper and easier to use in flexible multiple forms. One of these thin film materials is
CIGS(Copper Indium Gallium Diselenide)
Then we have a two-year shortage of polysilicon, that will cut the supply needed to feed the grow of more silicon based solar panels.
Thin films (ex. CIGS) has not only the price but the supply needed for enormous growth in the next years, so cheap that we could compare it to the cost of printing ink on paper.
Thin-film production from companies such as Evergreen Solar and Energy Conversion Devices will grow by around 70 percent in 2007, while polysilicon production will grow by 9 percent.
The booming solar industry is in the midst of an argument over which material will become dominant in the future for harvesting sunlight and turning it into electricity.
There is a good and detailed article about this issue over at CNET. You can read it here:
Silicon vs. CIGS: With solar energy, the issue is material
Solar Revolution
Plenty of news about solar energy in these last days.
The Solar IPO trend is heating up and modern architecture is heading fast to the inclusion of new solar energy solutions.
Economically viable solar power likely to be available soon2006/11/5
NEW YORK, ReutersSolar power will become economically viable and available to almost anyone in the next 10 to 15 years, Travis Bradford, a former corporate buyout specialist, says in his book "Solar Revolution."
Every major homebuilder is evaluating the inclusion of solar in new construction. (A) new California bill ... requires builders to offer solar as an option by 2012.
...Check the rest of the Reuters article with an interview with Travis Bradford from Massachusetts-based Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development
hereMore Solar Energy in the news:
On Wired News,
Solar Powers Up, Sans SiliconThis year, solar startups have snapped up more than $100 million in venture capital to develop printable materials capable of converting sunlight into electrical power. Soaring energy demand, as well as short supplies of polysilicon, a key ingredient in most solar cells, is fueling interest in alternative materials.
Cytak, Inc. Enters the World of Solar PanelsNexiasoft's Latest Acquisition, Cytak, Inc., Helps Solar Panel Manufacturers Become More Efficient
SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- November 06, 2006 -- Cytak, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Nexiasoft, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: NXSF), announced today that its most recent customer represents Cytak's first entry into the solar panel manufacturing industry. This major Silicon Valley solar panel manufacturer will use Cytak's tax-rate integration software to keep their global MFGPRO ERP systems up to date.
Read the rest
here.
Combining solar power with architectural design
There is a new and interesting trend in architecture. Many recent projects have been implementing ways to make solar panels a part of the architecture, not only creating a modern and dynamic feel to the building but increasing the energy/heating efficiency of the whole structure.
Kalzip AluPlusSolar is one of these companies providing these kind of construction, and only one example of a future trend that could well takeoff and be present in every city.
The new materials promised by
CIGS solar cells could develop these ideas even further. Read the rest on the link below:
Combining solar power with architectural designKalzip AluPlusSolar uses advanced amorphous solar cell technology to provide superior power generation performance and appearance. Thin film amorphous solar cell technology provides proven performance in a wider range of light conditions...
SolarClad modules are also ideal for window shading systems, saving on power consumption while generating power supply.
...
Miasole Solar Technology Stocks
Miasole, of San Jose has raised about $16 million from venture capitalists. This is accompanied by
Nanosolar, of Palo Alto that won $20 million and is developing the same type of technology
Nanotechnology applied to Solar Energy seems to be one of the top future achievements on my list, you can checkout this article liked on moleculartorch blog:
Expanding solar energy globallySpreading solar cells in almost any surface, if applied to most building walls and windows it could help to improve energy efficiency architecture and reduce the huge amounts of energy spent on building A/C every winter and summer.
A conforming solar cell produced by Nanosys is thin and flexible.
Miasole will be heading for a IPO in 12-18 months and should be carefully watched by
SolarStocks blog.
If this type of technology spreads out and evolves we could have solar cell coated clothing that could powerup mobile devices and even imbedded microchips for multiple uses.
This is the future envisioned by SolarStocks Blog and why there is much promise in "mobile" and lightweight solar panel technology than initially predicted or taught.
Check the Nanosolar
siteMore information on miasole's homepage:
What is CIGS? CIGS is a compound of copper, indium, gallium and selenium (Cu(In,Ga)Se2). When combined in the proper ratios, these materials form a semiconductor that can be applied as a thin film to create photovoltaic cells on many carrier substrates. The CIGS ("absorber") layer absorbs photons, the first step in the transformation of solar energy to electricity. Advantages over Crystalline Silicon
CIGS solar cells offer several advantages over crystalline silicon solar cells. In particular, CIGS cells are:
Less expensive per Watt More efficient in low-angle and low-light conditions Extremely lightweight Flexible enough to conform to small-radius curves Stable and reliable (even self-healing) in real-world condition...
Solar Power Stocks
Solar power is the technology of obtaining usable energy from the light of the Sun. Solar energy has been used in many traditional technologies for centuries and has come into widespread use where other power supplies are absent, such as in remote locations and in space.
The future brings the promise to make Solar Panels more efficient and cheap.
Although much of this type of research is still in the labs, it's never too late to start looking for some interesting Solar 'Powered' Stocks.
There will be an updated solar stock list with attached articles and analysis. We will start with the most known Solar Companies traded in the US stockmarket.
Here is the list:
Evergreen solar ESLR ChartSuntech Power Holdings STP ChartEnergy conversion devices ENER ChartSolar Enertech Corp SOEN Chart (BB)MEMC Electronic Materials WFR Chart(silicon wafers for solar panels)
Motech industriesBig Companies investing in solar energy:
Sharp,
British Petroleum(BP) ,
KyoceraSome sites about solar power investing:
Alternative Energy StocksSustainable Business Stock List
