First Solar results outshine rivals
FSLR is up 24% today, after the earnings got out:
First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) reported Q1 EPS of $1.99, far ahead of the $1.51 analysts were expecting. Revenues for the quarter more than doubled year-over-year to $418.2 million, beating consensus estimates of $399.9 million. The company noted that it reached two key production milestones this year; building a total of 1 gigawatt of photovoltaic modules, and its manufacturing costs have dropped below $1 per watt. First Solar also said that the global recession and tightened bank lending will squeeze profit margins for full year 2009 despite federal stimulus grants and loan guarantees for renewable energy.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - First Solar Inc outshined rivals in the struggling solar power industry on Wednesday with earnings and revenue that blew past Wall Street estimates and sent its shares up more than 13 percent.
The results stood in sharp contrast to weak performances unveiled earlier in the day from solar players Renewable Energy Corp and Akeena Solar Inc, who have been hurt by plunging demand for solar panels due to a lack of available credit for new projects.
First Solar, whose cadmium telluride solar panels are cheaper to make than the silicon-based cells that dominate the market, said its profit more than tripled in the first quarter as it was able to cut manufacturing costs and expand margins.
SourceLabels: Earnings, First Solar Inc, FSLR, solarstocks
Pioneering a 100% Solar City
FPL Group, Inc. (NYSE: FPL) to Set up U.S. a Pioneering 100% Solar CityElectricity utility Florida Power & Light (FPL) Group, Inc. (NYSE: FPL, FPL message board), last week said that it has agreed with the real estate investment company Kitson & Partners, to emulate the City of Masdar’s revolutionary concept of future urban development, by constructing America’s only carbon-neutral and zero-waste city in the “sunshine state” of Florida. FPL is expected to construct a 75 percent-megawatt photovoltaic solar power facility that will power the $2 billion-Babcock Ranch city to be laid on a 17,000 acre land which was purchased by Kitson & Partners as an environmentally sensitive domain for conservation three years ago.
Beginning of the year, Masdar Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company of the United Arab Emirates announced the construction of Masdar City which then was said to be the world’s only eco-city. First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) and Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP) won the tenders to supply 5 megawatts of thin film solar modules each for the power generation facility which will be utilised by an excess of 50,000 residents and 1,500 corporations when the city is completed.
FPL said their solar power plant will single-handedly be responsible for powering the futuristic Babcock Ranch city’s anticipated 19,500 residences, and various businesses and light industries that will be scattered within a space of 6 million square feet. 20,000 green jobs are also expected to be brought forth as from 2010, when the construction of the infrastructure is scheduled to take off, until when it becomes fully operational.
SourceLabels: First Solar Inc, FPL, FPL Group, FSLR, News, solar, solarstocks, STP, Suntech Power
Developer plots Solar City in Florida
A Florida developer unveiled plans today to build the nation's first solar-powered city -- a cluster of homes, offices and factories less than 20 miles from Fort Myers on the Gulf Coast.
"Babcock Ranch" would be built on 17,000 acres in Charlotte and Lee counties, with more than half of the land set aside for nature preserves, agriculture and other open space. Florida Power & Light Co. would build a 75-megawatt solar photovoltaic array to supply electricity to the development's 6 million square feet of residential, industrial and retail buildings.
The big question: If you build it in this economy, will buyers come?
NY Times Full articleLabels: home solar panels, solar panels, Solar power, Solar Projects
