Solar Power: Sunshine's Cloudy Days

These news seem contradictory, but according to some data, 2010 has made a good start, with demand filling all the supply from some major solar manufacturers, but these 'Cloudy Days' are referring to the 2009 over supply of solar panels, that is still a reality to many companies.

Mike Ahearn, chairman of the world's largest manufacturer of solar panels, had every reason to party in September. That's when his company, First Solar, based in Tempe, Ariz., was picked by China to build what promises to be the world's biggest solar-electricity plant: a Manhattan-size facility in Inner Mongolia providing 2 gigawatts of power, about twice the size of a large coal plant or average nuclear power station. But the Chinese facility will take years to build, and the party buzz subsided pretty quickly. The next month, Wall Street analysts downgraded First Solar's stock after the company missed its third-quarter revenue target. "I think the Wall Street perspective is pretty short-term," says Ahearn.
That's true, but it's also true that, while photovoltaic cells that turn sunlight into electricity may play a potentially vital role in weaning the world from fossil fuels, a transition will take decades — and the business metrics surrounding the solar-power industry currently are anything but bright. After a period of rapid expansion, panel manufacturers today are reeling from a pronounced supply surplus, falling prices and stagnating sales. In 2009, industry revenue plunged by nearly 40% to about $25 billion from $40 billion the previous year, according to BankAmerica Merrill Lynch alternative-energy analyst Steven Milunovich. Solar-panel output far outstripped demand last year; manufacturers made 66% more product than they were able to sell, estimates research firm iSuppli located in El Segundo, Calif. Some analysts believe the dismal conditions will persist into 2011,

Read more:
Time.com

Labels: First Solar Inc, FSLR, Solar News, Solar Stocks, Solar Technology

posted by Ertai at 8:53 AM