SunPower Corp in $100M solar deal
Wells Fargo & Co. and SunPower Corp. on Monday announced a collaborative effort to fund up to $100 million in SunPower commercial-scale solar systems.
San Francisco-based Wells (NYSE:WFC) and San Jose-based SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWRA) and (NASDAQ:SPWRB) said SunPower will enter into power purchase agreements with qualified customers and Wells Fargo will finance the solar power systems that SunPower will design, build, operate, and maintain.
Customers hosting the systems will buy the electricity from SunPower "at prices that are competitive with retail rates, providing them with a long-term hedge against rising power prices and the ability to take advantage of the environmental and financial benefits of solar power with no initial capital investment," the companies said.
SourceLabels: solar panels, Solar Projects, solarstocks, SPWRA, SunPower Corp, Wells Fargo
First Solar Sees Costs Down by a Third in 5 Years
First Solar is starting to show how cheap thin-film solar panels can revolutionize the industry, with the main issue being the low prices of cadmium telluride solar panels.
First Solar Inc on Wednesday said it expected to cut manufacturing costs by a third or more over the next five years, mainly by making its solar panels more efficient at transforming sunlight into electricity.
In a presentation to analysts in Las Vegas, First Solar President Bruce Sohn said the company's manufacturing costs would fall to between 52 cents and 63 cents per watt by 2014. In the first quarter of this year, the company's cost per watt was 93 cents.
Reducing the cost of solar power is key to making the clean energy source competitive with electricity generated from coal and other fossil fuels.
First Solar currently produces the lowest cheapest panels in the industry. They are made from cadmium telluride rather than the higher-priced polysilicon that is the main raw material in traditional solar panels.
The drawback to First Solar's panels, however, is that they are less efficient than silcon-based panels.
Source:
Solar PlazaLabels: First Solar Inc, FSLR, solar panels
Solar Stocks Gapping on Pre-Market
Most Solar Stocks are gapping up today on the Pre-Market.
Except the possible start of an upswing short-term rally, with the ETF TAN up 2% on Pre-Market, and other titles such as STP and CSIQ going up almost 3%, 30 minutes before market open.
The Claymore/MAC Global Solar Index (Solar Stock ETF) Chart looks like this:
And some news, regarding the Solar Industry and Oil price correlation:
Solar Players Looking Again Like Leveraged Oil Trades (FSLR, STP, SPWRA, LDK, ENER, TAN, PBW, CSIQ)Investing in solar and alternative energy stocks comes with many risks. We have often referred to many of these companies as being essentially nothing more than very leveraged speculative oil investments because when energy prices are low most forms of alternative energy are not competitive on a cost structure. The drop of $2.62 per barrel to $66.93 in NYMEX WTI Crude is causing havoc in some of the mid-cap and speculative oils stocks. It is also hitting shares of First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR), Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP), SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWRA), LDK Solar Co.Ltd. (NYSE: LDK), and Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENER). This is also seen directly in the ETFs of Claymore/MAC Global Solar Energy (NYSE: TAN) and PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy (NYSE: PBW). Speculative stocks like Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) look even worse.
Labels: Canadian Solar Inc., Claymore, Crude Oil, CSIQ, FSLR, LDK, PBW, solar ETF, Solar Stocks, Solar Stocks Performance, SPWRA, STP, Suntech Power, TAN
Europe Looks to Africa for Solar Power
The European project known as Desertec is nothing if not ambitious.
It aims to harvest the sun’s energy — using a method known as concentrating solar power, or C.S.P. — from the vast North African desert and deliver it as electricity, via high-voltage transmission lines, to markets in Europe. Eventually, its backers say, it could satisfy as much as 15 percent of the European Union’s power needs.
...
As James Kanter reported in our Green Inc. blog, the project took a step forward last week when a consortium of German businesses announced plans to pursue financing and otherwise hammer out details for Desertec, which is expected to cost about €400 billion, or $555 billion.
NY TimesLabels: Solar News, solar panels, Solar power
Solar Stocks on upswing
Solar stocks are gapping up today, maybe starting an upswing for the short term.
The Solar ETF, TAN, just got some support around the $10 and is moving up today. The analysis point to some gains in the next days for the whole solar sector.
Some optimistic news on Business Insider:
US Solar Market Finally Ready To Blast Off (FSLR, STP, SPWRA)With plummeting solar module prices and renewable energy subsidies, the U.S. solar market is finally ready to blast off in the first half of 2010, says FBR.
In the second half of this year, the government will be flooding solar companies with enough cash for them to get new installations up and running. The Treasury Department has a grant program ready to roll and the DOE is going to approve loan guarantees.
FBR took an in-depth look at three major solar companies, First Solar (FSLR), Suntech Power (STP), and SunPower (SPWRA) to figure out who will win. The four criteria FBR used were cost of land, financing and cost of installed system.
Full articleLabels: First Solar Inc, FSLR, Solar News, Solar Stocks, SPWRA, STP, SunPower Corp, Suntech Power
Solar Energy Investments Soar
Some solar news on Cabot.net
Crude oil hit a 2009 high of $71 a barrel on Wednesday, pushing solar energy ETFs to an eight-month peak, according to Investor’s Business Daily.
Claymore/MAC Global Solar Energy (TAN) soared 6.2% to 11.47, closing well above its 200-moving average, IBD reported. Volume swelled to nearly four times normal.
TAN has surged 147% from its March low, however, it is still trading 60% below its 52-week high, according to IBD. TAN holds stocks of 26 solar companies engaged in providing solar power products, services, raw materials or electricity derived from solar energy.
LDK Solar, a Chinese firm, rocketed up 21% to 13.83 on Wednesday in five times usual volume. IBD reported a Chinese official as saying that China intends to derive 20% of it energy from alternative sources by 2020.
SourceLabels: ETF, LDK Solar, Solar News, Solar Stocks, Solar Stocks Performance, TAN
10 MW Supply Agreement with First Solar
Some Solar Stock news:
Lend Lease Announces 10 MW Supply Agreement with First SolarBy Chip Brian, SmarTrend Analytics Team
Lend Lease announced Monday that its construction and project management business, Bovis Lend Lease, has signed a supply agreement with First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) for 10MW of solar panels. Lend Lease hopes to leverage this relationship in its Australian construction business as well as its existing development portfolio. Bovis Lend Lease's Australian CEO Tony Costantino said, "We are pleased to be working with First Solar, one of the leading solar companies, and to be entering the solar procurement market. This relationship allows us to meet the growing demands in renewable energy for our clients and ensures that solar energy is a consideration on every project. We look forward to working together on future opportunities." He continued, "First Solar's panels are perfectly suited for Australia's climate because they perform better than other PV technologies in high temperatures."
Labels: First Solar Inc, FSLR, Solar News, solar panels, Solar power, Solar Stocks
Two Picks in Solar Stocks
Market just opened deep in the red, Crude Oil continues its downward movement and the Solar Stocks follow.
Some news regarding Deutsche Bank's choice on Solar Stocks:
Mr. O’Rourke: Two key [companies] here in the US are First Solar (FSLR) and SunPower (SPWRA). Each of those companies has clear technology differentiation, First Solar with cadmium telluride and SunPower with high efficiency crystalline silicon. They are the technology leaders in the industry, and often differentiation does come down to technology. All that said, I think they have sustainable competitive advantages that translate to a lower cost of energy all the way down the value chain. If a company can maintain that cost of energy advantage, and maintain a strong balance sheet, they can weather the storm and build upon an already strong market position.
SourceLabels: Deutsche Bank, First Solar Inc, FSLR, Solar News, Solar Stocks, SPWRA, SunPower Corp
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)
Two years ago we had a shortage of polysilicon, but with today's supply and current demand, there should be no problem for companies like SunTech Power (STP) to comply with the polysilicon demand.
Thin films (ex. CIGS) are cheaper, 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 and First Solar were groing strong in the last two years, but now faces the competition from Silicon panels, that are more efficient.
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. CIGSIt's an old article but still usefull, even if we no longer face a polysilicon shortage at the moment.
Labels: CIGS, Copper Indium Gallium Diselenide, ESLR, FSLR, Polysilicon, Polysilicon shortage, solar panels, Solar power, Solar Technology, STP
Crude Oil retreats and Solar Stocks follow
Crude Oil reached the $73 mark yesterday and is retreating today to around $71 per barrel.
Solarstocks are in negative territory today, and could remain in the red for a couple of days, while the markets cool down from its latest Bull run.
Too see the main trend on the whole solar sector, we better look for a benchmark/index for the Solar Stocks.
There are currently two ETFs that follow the solar industry:
Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF
(NYSE:KWT) from Van Eck Global
Claymore/MAC Global Solar Energy
(NYSE:TAN) from Claymore Securities
Short-term trend seems to be pointing lower today
(I track the TAN ETF in this blog because of the higher liquidity)
Despite being the industry benchmark, it still is quite volatile, and while not as risky as individual solar stocks this solar ETF has doubled it's value in just 3 months, and can tumble just as fast...
Labels: ETF, Global Solar Index, KWT, MAC, Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF, solar ETF, Solar Stocks, TAN
Get Ready For A Boom In Solar Projects
Some more news regarding the economy comeback and what it means for all the solar companies and projects.
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Financial players who abandoned U.S. solar energy projects last year during the throes of the banking crisis are beginning to return, potentially setting up a boom of new deals by the end of the year, several solar investors said on Wednesday
...
"Those that had left the market are beginning to come back, and come back in a big way," Matt Cheney, chief executive of Renewable Ventures, told the PV America conference.
That would be welcome news to companies such as SunPower Corp, Suntech Power Holdings, SolarWorld AG and others who have seen their share prices cut in half from highs reached last year
Business insider
SourceLabels: Solar Funding, Solar Industry, Solar News, solar panels, SPWRA, STP
LDK Solar Co., Ltd.
LDK Solar is up today, around 20%, with the whole solar sector moving along.
This Solar stock has now almost recovered from all its losses, since the beginning of 2009.
LDK and Suntech Power Holdings(NYSE:STP) have been the top performing solar stocks in the last months, keep them in sight but be carefull, volatility goes both ways.
Some recent news on LDK Solar:
Reuters reporting that Jack Lai, CFO of Chinese solar company LDK Solar (NYSE:LDK), said he expects to have low gross margins through the current quarter and into the next as it works to ramp up in-house production of its pricey key raw material.
More news coming soon...
Labels: LDK, LDK Solar, Solar News, Solar Stocks, Solar Stocks Performance, STP, Suntech Power
Jabil to build SunPower solar panels in Mexico
More Solar Panel manufacturing news from SunPower Corporation (SPWRA):
Solar power company SunPower Corp (SPWRA.O) said on Monday it had signed a contract with electronics maker Jabil Circuit Inc (JBL.N) to build solar panels in Mexico beginning in the second half of 2009.
...
SunPower currently produces its solar panels in the Philippines and has a partnership with SunEnergy in China. It is also looking at establishing manufacturing in large solar markets in the United States, the company said.
Reuters sourceLabels: Solar News, solar panels, solarstocks, SPWR, SPWRA, SunPower Corp
Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (STP)
Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (STP) is the leading solar technology company in the world. It designs and manufactures photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules but the reduced demand and huge capacity build up over the last few years made solar product prices drop sharply.
Its products include monocrystalline and multicrystalline silicon PV cells.
The recent oil price recovery helped the whole solar industry, since higher Oil prices means solar energy is more cost competitive and becomes more attractive as an alternative source of energy.
Suntech Power is one of the few solar stocks that is profitable in the last years, and even with the current crisis, it will probably remain profitable during this fiscal year, even if affected by the lower demand and the lower oil prices.
Suntech Power's latest upgrades and backing from China's goverment can guarantee that the company will bode well in the next years.
In the short-term, the technical analysis points to a possible retraction for the next weeks, but the trend for the next months seems to be either sideways or bullish.
If the world markets keep the recent recovery trend up, STP will probably follow along.
Suntech Power Holdings is up around 30% since the start of 2009, and more than tripled since its March lows.
Labels: photovoltaic, solar analysis, Solar Stocks, solarstocks, STP, Suntech Power
Claymore/MAC Global Solar Index, Solar Stocks ETF
Solar stocks have been rallying in the last months.
The solar industry ETF (TAN) is following the solar stocks performance nicely, and volume is picking up this year.
The short and mid-term trend is looking Bullish but expect some corrections in following days. TAN is still in my opinion the best solution if you want to invest in solar technology globally.
Despite being the industry benchmark, it still is quite volatile, and while not as risky as individual solar stocks this solar ETF has doubled it's value in just 3 months, and can tumble just as fast...
Labels: Claymore, Global Solar Index, solar ETF, Solar Stocks Performance, TAN
Suntech Tests National's SolarMagic Technology
National Semiconductor Corp. and Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to evaluate National Semiconductor's SolarMagic technology with the intention of jointly promoting the technology and developing future solutions.
National's SolarMagic power optimizers use distributed electronics throughout a solar installation to recoup energy lost due to real-world conditions such as shade, debris and panel mismatch. National developed SolarMagic technology to improve the energy harvest of solar arrays. Because of the characteristics of solar modules, real-world conditions - caused by shading from trees, chimneys or power lines; debris such as leaves or dirt, and panel aging - can lead to disproportionate power losses.
SourceLabels: Solar News, solar panels, SolarMagic, solarstocks, STP, Suntech Power
Canadian Solar Earnings (CSIQ)
The first quarter report from Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ) was a little better than expected on the earnings front but weak on the top-line, posting a net EPS loss of -$0.13 on revenue of $49.5 million. Analysts had forecast a net EPS loss of -$0.26 on revenue of $54.08 million.
The good news was the promise of a future short-term recovery, with sales recovering from it's low recession numbers, in the last months.
Canadian Solar (CSIQ) is up 23% for today, chart looks like this:
(doubled the price just in the last month)
Other Solar Stocks like SOLF, YGE, TSL and SOL are all above 10%
Labels: Canadian Solar Inc., CSIQ, ReneSola, Solarfun, SOLF, Trina Solar, YGE, Yingli Green Energy Hold
Evolution of a trade in FSLR
An interesting article on Blogging Stocks, regarding First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR)
A trade doesn't simply have an initiation and finale – the most important part of a trade is its evolution and constant re-assessment if the original thesis that the trade was initiated with, still holds true.
On that note, let's look at First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR). I started a short position in it on 6/1 when instead of participating in the market advance, it lagged (due to a LA Times story that FSLR's acquisition of "strategic land rights" is under scrutiny). Recall, it came on the heels of a cautious mention in Barron's on May 26th. So, both times, FSLR reacted negatively to negative news and volume picked up on both those instances.
Today, Pacific Crest Securities reiterated its buy rating on FSLR and called the recent weakness a "buying opportunity."
Continue
readingLabels: First Solar Inc, FSLR, Solar Energy, Solar Technology, Solar Trading, solarstocks
US Solar Market
U.S. Solar Market: So Promising, Except for 2009
The United States could become the leading solar market one day, but it's likely to be Germany that saves the day for solar panel makers who have seen demand plummeted so far this year, analysts say.
Solar companies have pegged the United States as the market to conquer because of its size, but for 2009, it's likely to be Germany that will have the large appetite for the abundant supply of solar panels, analysts say.
The United States lags behind countries such as Germany, Spain and Japan in solar energy generation, but its size and an earnest push by federal and some states to promote more installations has made the U.S. a promising market. But not this year.
continue reading on
Greentech MediaLabels: Solar Market, Solar News, Solar Stocks, Solar Technology, solarstocks
Barclays's take on solarstocks
Barclays Bullish on YGE and JASO, Says Take Profits on CSIQ and SOLFBy Chip Brian, SmarTrend Analytics Team
At the Intersolar trade show in Munich, Germany, Barclays Capital said key themes included the resumption of seasonality in demand, depletion of channel inventory, and that global solar shipments are tracking to the firm's 25% year-over-year decline forecast with potential upside from improved project financing programs. Barclays maintains its selective bias toward the Chinese solar companies it currently rates "Overweight" - Yingli Green Energy (NYSE:YGE) and JA Solar (NASDAQ:JASO). The firm recommends staying on the sidelines on China Sunergy (NASDAQ:CSUN), LDK Solar (NYSE:LDK) and Renesola (NYSE:SOL). Barclays suggested taking profits on Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) and Solarfun Power (NASDAQ:SOLF). Barclays also noted that First Solar's (NASDAQ:FSLR) analyst day on June 24 is a potential catalyst.
SourceLabels: Canadian Solar Inc., China Sunenergy, CSIQ, CSUN, First Solar Inc, FSLR, JA Solar Holdings Co., JASO, LDK, ReneSola, SOL, Solar Stocks, Solarfun, solarstocks, SOLF, YGE
Solar Push in Texas Fails
Texas’s efforts to create incentives for solar power production are dead, dashing the industry’s hopes that the huge, sunny state would see a surge in demand for panels.
Last-minute maneuvering this weekend at the end of the state legislative session prevented the passage of $500m of solar rebates. Efforts to change Texas’s renewable portfolio standard to create extra requirements for solar, biomass and geothermal power had failed earlier.
Solar had previously appeared to be on a roll, and so many bills flooded the state legislature this session that it was sometimes called the “solar session.”
SourceLabels: News, Solar Funding, Solar News, tax incentives
