Canadian Solar, Inc. (CSIQ) Posts Q1 Loss
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Canadian Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) reported Q1 EPS of ($0.10), $0.68 better than the analyst estimate of ($0.78). Revenue for the quarter came in at $263.6 million versus the consensus estimate of $221 million.
Solar module shipments were 340 MW, compared to 404 MW in the fourth quarter of 2012.
For the second quarter of 2013, module shipments are expected to be in the range of approximately 380 MW to 420 MW. Gross margin for the quarter is expected to be between 9% and 11%.
For the full year 2013, the Company expects module shipments to be in the range of approximately 1.6 GW to 1.8 GW."
CSIQ is up 17 % for today.
Labels: Canadian Solar Inc., CSIQ, Earnings, Solar Stocks, Solar Technology, solarstocks
Are we on the cusp of a solar energy boom?
The total solar energy hitting Earth each year is equivalent to
12.2 trillion watt-hours. That's over 20,000 times more than the total energy all of humanity consumes each year.
And yet photovoltaic solar panels, the instruments that convert solar radiation into electricity, produce only 0.7 percent of the energy the
world uses.
Continue reading:
The Week
Labels: Solar Energy, Solar Technology
And SunPower Corp does go above $20...
The other solar stocks are keeping the positive gays but SunPower Corp (SPWR) is winning today:
Labels: Solar Technology, solarstocks, SPWR, Sunpower
Suntech Power Announces Default
Yesterday, Suntech announced that it has defaulted on its 3 percent convertible notes.
According to
Bloomberg (
citing Moody's), "No company has defaulted on publicly traded debt in China since the central bank began regulating the market in the late 1990s."
Suntech was the world's largest manufacturer of solar modules in 2011.
Labels: Default, solar panels, Solar Technology, STP, Suntech Power
Solar Energy in every new home in California City
Mayor Rex Parris from Lancaster, California announced his city will institute a first-of-its-kind requirement that solar be installed on every new single-family home built in Lancaster after January 1, 2014.
“The purpose of the solar energy system standards, is to encourage investment in solar energy on all parcels in the city, while providing guidelines for the installation of those systems that are consistent with the architectural and building standards of the City.”
Residential homes on lots from 7,000 square feet must have a solar system of 1.0 kilowatt to 1.5 kilowatts. Rural residential homes of up to 100,000 square feet must have a system of at least 1.5 kilowatts.
SourceLabels: Alternative Energy, home solar panels, Solar Technology
First Solar Swing Up
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) has made an impressive swing up, gaining more than 10% in only 3 sessions.
Most solar stocks are now bullish on the short-term, but expect some resistance to new highs on the next days.
If the bullish move continues we could see a new mid-term up trend starting.
Labels: First Solar Inc, FSLR, Solar Stocks, Solar Technology, Solar Trading
Top 10 Best-Rated Solar Stocks
Below are the top 10 best-rated Solar stocks, based on the number of positive ratings by brokerage analysts. Six Chinese companies (TSL, STP, YGE, JASO, SOLF, SOL) are on the list.
First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) is the 1st best-rated stock in this segment of the market. It is rated positively by 24 brokerage analysts. It is covered by 41 brokerage analysts. Trina Solar Limited (ADR) (NYSE:TSL) is the 2nd best-rated stock in this segment of the market. It is rated positively by 17 brokerage analysts. It is covered by 20 brokerage analysts. Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:STP) is the 3rd best-rated stock in this segment of the market. It is rated positively by 12 brokerage analysts. It is covered by 37 brokerage analysts. Yingli Green Energy Hold. Co. Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:YGE) is the 4th best-rated stock in this segment of the market. It is rated positively by 11 brokerage analysts. It is covered by 20 brokerage analysts. SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWRA) is the 5th best-rated stock in this segment of the market. It is rated positively by 11 brokerage analysts. It is covered by 36 brokerage analysts.
MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. (NYSE:WFR) is the 6th best-rated stock in this segment of the market. It is rated positively by 10 brokerage analysts. It is covered by 23 brokerage analysts. GT Solar International, Inc. (NASDAQ:SOLR) is the 7th best-rated stock in this segment of the market. It is rated positively by 8 brokerage analysts. It is covered by 10 brokerage analysts. JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:JASO) is the 8th best-rated stock in this segment of the market. It is rated positively by 8 brokerage analysts. It is covered by 17 brokerage analysts. Solarfun Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:SOLF) is the 9th best-rated stock in this segment of the market. It is rated positively by 6 brokerage analysts. It is covered by 12 brokerage analysts. ReneSola Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:SOL) is the 10th best-rated stock in this segment of the market. It is rated positively by 5 brokerage analysts. It is covered by 7 brokerage analysts.
Source: China Analyst cnanalyst.com
Labels: First Solar Inc, FSLR, Solar Ratings, Solar Stocks, Solar Technology, STP, Suntech Power, Trina Solar, TSL
Solar plane set for night flight
A solar-powered plane is getting ready to hit the skies once again - this time, at night.
It will be the first ever manned night flight on a plane propelled exclusively by solar energy.
Solar Impulse will lift off from an airfield in Switzerland, on a sunny day sometime at the end of June.
It will then fly around, charging the solar cells on the plane's wings, in a bid to store enough energy for the electric motors to last until dawn.
The aim of the project's founders, Andre Borschberg and round-the-world balloonist Bertrand Piccard, is to show that a solar-powered craft is able to fly day and night - and eventually long-distance flights - without any fuel.
SourceLabels: solar cells, Solar News, solar plane, Solar power, Solar Technology
Solar power game-changer: 'Near perfect' absorption of sunlight, from all angles
A new anti-reflective coating developed by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute could help to overcome two major hurdles blocking the progress and wider use of solar power. The nanoengineered coating boosts the amount of sunlight captured by solar panels and allows those panels to absorb the entire spectrum of sunlight from any angle, regardless of the sun's position in the sky.
An untreated silicon solar cell only absorbs 67.4 percent of sunlight shone upon it — meaning that nearly one-third of that sunlight is reflected away and thus unharvestable.
After a silicon surface was treated with Lin's new nanoengineered reflective coating, however, the material absorbed 96.21 percent of sunlight shone upon it — meaning that only 3.79 percent of the sunlight was reflected and unharvested. This huge gain in absorption was consistent across the entire spectrum of sunlight, from UV to visible light and infrared, and moves solar power a significant step forward toward economic viability.
Source:
PhysOrgLabels: Nano Solar, solar efficiency, solar panels, Solar Technology
Japan Solar Sail
Today the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is set to launch the first spacecraft that will speed across the solar system using a hybrid solar sail—one propelled partly by solar pressure, partly by traditional solar power.
Dubbed Ikaros—for Interplanetary Kite-Craft Accelerated by Radiation of the Sun—the experimental craft will launch from the Tanegashima Space Center at 5:44 p.m. ET (6:44 a.m. Tuesday, local time).
Ikaros is hitching a ride into space aboard an H-IIA rocket, piggybacking with JAXA's Akatsuki Venus Climate Orbiter mission.
Once in space, the cylindrical, 677-pound (307-kilogram) craft will separate from the rocket and spin itself to unfurl its roughly 46-foot-wide (14-meter-wide) solar sail. (Related blog: "Tiny Solar Sail Pitched to Clean Up Space Junk.")
First proposed in the 1920s, solar sails are large reflective membranes that allow a spacecraft to be pushed by radiation pressure from sunlight, negating the need for heavy onboard fuel. (Explore a time line of space travel milestones.)
"It's the space equivalent of a yacht sailing on the sea," said Yuichi Tsuda, deputy project manager for Ikaros. Like wind filling a boat's sails, particles of light—or photons—streaming from the sun bounce onto a mirrorlike aluminized solar sail.
As each photon strikes, its momentum is transmitted to the spacecraft, which begins to gather speed in the almost frictionless environment of space. A solar sail can eventually reach speeds five to ten times greater than a rocket powered by conventional fuels.
Source:
National GeographicLabels: Japan, Solar Energy, Solar News, Solar Technology
Solar Energy Could Provide 25% Of World Electricity
The International Energy Agency (IEA) presented two new analyses in Valencia, Spain this week, a Solar Photovoltaic Energy Technology Roadmap and a Concentrating Solar Power Technology Roadmap. 1bog reports.
A key long-term finding from these analyses is that 20-25% of global electricity production could be from solar electricity by 2050.
Some interesting charts:
SourceLabels: solar charts, Solar Energy prices, Solar power, Solar Technology
Dazzling future for Solar Power
"Concentrating solar power plants like the PS10 near Seville, Spain may provide around 10 percent of world electricity by 2050"
Solar power is expected to provide almost a quarter of the world's electricity supplies by 2050, according to a new report published by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Eleven percent of total supplies are predicted to come from solar panels on homes and offices while a further 11 percent will be provided by central solar power stations feeding clean electricity to populous areas.
Solar power currently accounts for 0.5 percent of total electricity supplies, but this will need to rise if cuts in carbon emissions are to be achieved, according to the IEA.
Executive director of the IEA, Nobuo Tanaka said in a statement: "The combination of solar photovoltaics and concentrating solar power offers considerable prospects for enhancing energy security while reducing energy-related CO2 emissions by almost six billion tonnes per year by 2050."
The future success of solar power stations (known as Concentrating Solar Power or CSP) will depend on the development of "dedicated transport lines," but the IEA predict that it could become competitive with coal and nuclear power plants by 2030.
The IEA expects North America to be the largest producer of CSP electricity, followed by India and North Africa -- which will likely export half of its output to Europe.
Source:
CNNLabels: Global Solar Energy, Solar Energy, Solar power, Solar Technology
Evergreen Solar sees price declines in second half
U.S. solar company Evergreen Solar Inc (ESLR) said on Wednesday it expects to see some pricing pressure in the second half of 2010, following forecast incentive cuts in Germany, the world's No. 1 solar market.
The government there is set to reduce most of the mandated prices paid for electricity from German solar arrays starting in July, with proposed cuts of 16 percent for rooftop panels.
Speaking on a conference call with investors, executives at Evergreen Solar also said the company's project to expand operations in China is on track.
SourceLabels: ESLR, Evergreen Solar, Solar Stocks, Solar Technology
SunPower unveils more efficient solar panels
SunPower, a Silicon Valley manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells, panels, and systems, announced Monday the debut of its its new SunPower E19 Series solar panels, a product lineup that offers an efficiency of 19 percent or greater.
The efficiency figure measures how great a percentage of the sunlight that hits a solar panel is actually converted into usable electricity. The higher the efficiency, the cheaper the cost of using solar energy.
Some companies have reached up to 42 percent efficiency in testing their products. Others have claimed even higher percentages in the lab. But most commercial silicon solar cells average in the 15 percent range.
The E19's panels achieve a higher efficiency by using 3 percent more surface space per cell and by employing an antireflective coating that can capture greater amounts of off-angle light, explained San Jose, Calif.-based SunPower. The coating helps generate more energy per watt than a conventional solar panel. The combination of the coating and larger cells also offer a darker and more aesthetic look to the panels, the company said.
The E19 line includes a 318-watt, 96-cell solar panel with an efficiency of 19.5 percent and a 238-watt, 72-cell solar version with an efficiency of 19.1 percent.
Source:
CNETLabels: solar efficiency, Solar Stocks, Solar Technology, SPWRA, SunPower Corp
SunPower Corporation (SPWRA): Earnings Preview
SunPower Corporation (SPWRA : 18.16, 0.28) is scheduled to report first quarter 2010 results on Thursday, April 22.
SunPower Corporation is a vertically integrated solar products and services company that designs, manufactures and markets high-performance solar electric power technologies. The company operates through two business segments: components segment and systems segment. The Systems Segment represents sales directly to system owners and developers and includes engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) and other services relating to solar electric power systems that integrate the company's solar panels and balance of systems components, as well as materials sourced from other manufacturers. The Components Segment primarily represents sales of the Company's solar panels and inverters to solar systems installers and other resellers, including the company's third-party global dealer network. On April 14, 2009, the Company completed the acquisition of Tilt Solar. In March 2010, the Company acquired SunRay Renewable Energy.
Dec-Q operating EPS of $0.32 vs. $0.27 is $0.07 below my estimate. Sales rose 18% from Oct-Q, reflecting higher shipments in all geographies. Gross margins, below my view, narrowed due to foreign exchange. As expenses rose, the operating margin contracted. Separately, the internal audit committee concluded that '08-'09 income was overstated by about $17 million. I still see pricing pressure from Asia-based competitors with rising conversion efficiencies. While Q4 results confirmed strength of company's components biz, its ability to maintain price premium, guidance suggests back-end-loaded year, higher expenses tied to SunRay purchase. But I feel the company is taking right steps to secure strong pipeline in U.S., Europe, which will become even more important in possible oversupplied environment in H2 '10.
For the 1st qtr 2010, analysts' estimates range from $0.0 to $0.36, with a consensus estimate of $0.09. The consensus EPS forecast has decreased over the past week from -$0.36 to $0.35 and decreased over the past three months from $0.35 to $0.36.
Source:istockanalyst.com
Labels: Earnings, Solar Stocks, Solar Technology, SPWRA, SunPower Corp
Ningguo City could be first solar-powered city in China
A Chinese tellurium mining company, Apollo Solar Energy, has signed a non-binding letter of intent with the Ningguo Municipal Government to begin a joint venture to design, build and run a 30x50 square kilometre solar city in Anhui Province, China.
The letter presents Apollo with the chance to become a 51% shareholder with the Ningguo City Investment Company, which could lead to proving how cost-efficient the use of solar energy for an entire community could be. Other investors would own 49 percent of the ventures shares between them.
As it stands, if the plans go ahead, Ningguo will be the first city in China to use solar power as its number one source of energy. Apollo's eventual aim, it says, is to make a completely zero-emission city in China. It won't be easy, though: it's believed that the entire project including a 10 GW grid-connected solar power station, will take up to 8 years and costs up to $14 billion.
SourceLabels: China, Solar power, Solar Powered, Solar Technology
Thin Film 2010: Market Outlook to 2015
From only 17 megawatts in 2002 to nearly 1 gigawatt in 2008 (a compounded annualized growth rate of 96%), thin film’s rise over the last decade has been remarkable indeed. The search for alternative technologies to traditional crystalline silicon PV has led to a tidal wave of investment and entrepreneurial activity in thin film, with 170 active companies and over $2 billion in VC investment in the space. However, as of 2010, only two thin film companies have produced in excess of 100 MW annually.
Full ArticleLabels: CIGS, First Solar Inc, FSLR, Solar Energy, Solar Stocks, Solar Technology, Thin film solar cells
Renewable Energy Helps Fuel Dow Above 11,000
The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 11,000 for the first time since stock markets began their nosedive 18 months ago. And the rebound in investor and trader confidence seems to be taking renewable energy and clean technology stocks with it.
An uptick in the price of a barrel of oil, the coming 40th anniversary Earth Day celebrations and renewed focus on energy and climate legislation in Congress could once again be sparking market enthusiasm, at least for the short term, market watchers are speculating.
But the upturn could prove short-lived as some banks and investment firms remain wary of the sector's long-term performance, warning their clients of shrinking public support for subsidies and an end to government stimulus spending globally.
...
Source: NYTimes
Continue
readingLabels: Solar Market, Solar Stocks, Solar Technology
JA Solar Raises Shipment Guidance
With the positive news from JASO, not only is the best solar stock performance in these last weeks, but managed to uplift the whole sector with gains above 5% in many of the leading solar stocks.
JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq: JASO), a leading manufacturer of high-performance solar products, today announced revised guidance for its first quarter ended March 31, 2010. Based on current customer orders and product deliveries, JA Solar now projects first quarter shipments to exceed 265MW, above the high-end of its previous guidance of 215MW to 225MW given on Feb. 11, 2010.
"During the first quarter, we saw robust demand from existing and new customers," said Dr. Peng Fang, CEO of JA Solar. "By streamlining the company's existing solar cell manufacturing facility, JA Solar is able to achieve higher than expected production to meet strong customer orders. We also won several new European customers during the quarter, which further diversified our customer base and provides better visibility for the full year."
...
The company expects to report its first quarter results in mid-May, and plans to provide guidance for the second quarter of 2010 and updated full-year 2010 guidance at that time.
Source: PR Newswire
Labels: JA Solar Holdings Co., JASO, solar charts, Solar power, Solar Stocks, Solar Technology
Solar Pebble could light the way for rural Africans
A solar-charged light might seem like just another green gadget to the average American, but for families in rural Africa, it could prove revolutionary.
Product design consultancy Plus Minus Design is vying to replace unsustainable and potentially dangerous lanterns in the homes of off-grid Africans with the Solar Pebble. Engineered with the economic constraints of developing-world citizens in mind, the Solar Pebble will provide one hour of LED light for every two hours of charge, and will cost only $2.70 to manufacture.
Source:
CNETLabels: solar panels, Solar power, Solar Technology
