Solar Photovoltaic

Doug Young  Bottom line: Yingli’s sudden repayment of 70 percent of a maturing bond shows the government may provide partial assistance for struggling solar panel makers, in an effort to engineer an orderly shut-down of these weaker companies. The story of China’s troubled solar panel sector has taken an unexpected twist, with word of a last-minute partial reprieve for Yingli (NYSE: YGE), one of the weakest major players that looked set to default on a large debt payment. The development came quite quickly and had a few unusual elements that hint strongly at government intervention. Yingli’s case is...

by Joseph McCabe, PE I've been attending the Intersolar conference in San Francisco for ten years since it was just Semicon, and noticed many of the most interesting trends don’t show up in the headlines.   This year, I noticed that the exhibit halls were packed with metal (racking) peddlers, far more than in previous years. Solar headlines concentrate on the modules, even though there seems to be less and less differentiation in the module market, with everyone competing for a lower and lower average selling price (ASP). As a friend and PV industry expert told me,...

Doug Young Bottom line: YIngli’s debt restructuring plan and ReneSola’s early debt repurchase will bring some confidence to solar shares, but pessimism will quickly return as their situations deteriorate without major signals of new government support. Shares of Yingli (NYSE: YGE) and ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) have taken investors on a wild ride these last few weeks, reflecting the alternating hopes and fears gripping 2 of the shakiest companies in a solar sector crippled by a downturn now entering its fourth year. If I were a betting man, I would say the chances are better than 80 percent...

Tom Konrad CFA Solar installation is a low margin business with low barriers to entry, but consolidation may bring competitive advantages in some sectors of the market. I recently took a look at Principal Solar (PSWW.PK), a reverse-merger solar developer roll-up play, and found it remarkably lacking in hard data.  But there are a handful of other publicly traded pure-play solar installer/developers, as well as vertically integrated solar manufacturers like First Solar Inc (FSLR) which have been developing projects with their own panels, and solar developer-operators like Etrion Corp. (ETRXF.PK). The Shape of the Solar Installation...

Ed Gunther SMA Sunny Boy 240 microinverter delayed again until 1Q13. From Solar Light Flashes: SPI12 Edition As I tweeted at the start of the Solar Power International 2012 (SPI12) exhibition, SMA America, LLC, a unit of SMA Solar Technology AG (ETR:S92), delayed the introduction of the Sunny Boy 240-US microinverter system until the first quarter of 2013 (1Q13) despite the webpage continuing to claim “Coming 2012!” The Sunny Boy 240 is in the midst of US field trials that SMA said are going well. While SMA said...

Doug Young China’s solar retrenchment has taken a big step forward with word that a bankruptcy court has chosen Hong Kong-listed Shunfeng Photovoltaic (HKEx: 1165) from a field of bidders vying to invest in reorganizing former solar pioneer Suntech (NYSE: STP). The decision is interesting both because of who the bankruptcy court selected, and also because of who lost the bidding. The selection of Shunfeng looks particularly significant, as it could mark the emergence of a new major player as the battered solar panel sector finally starts to emerge from its 2-year-old downturn. The latest reports don’t contain...

By Jeff Siegel In Dubai, solar is now cheaper than oil at $10 a barrel. Yes, you read that correctly. As reported by the National Bank of Abu Dhabi: Dubai set a new global benchmark in December 2014: at 5.84 US cents per kW hour, the bid for Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s 200 MW solar PV plant was cheaper than oil at US$10/barrel and gas at US$5/MMBtu. You see, while oil in the U.S. is used primarily as a transportation fuel, in the oil-rich Middle East, the shiny black stuff is used to generate electricity. In...

Mea Culpa. We often get request from readers to add companies to our Alternative Energy Stocks list.  Since the field is very active, we do some quick checks to make sure that the companies at least: Provide enough information to make an informed investment decision. There's nothing obvious which indicates serious investors wouldn't be interested. We by no means feel that everything in the list is a good investment, but we do feel that our list a good place to start your own research. Usually. Last weekend, we received a request from a shareholder to add Power-Save...

by Paula Mints Every year at this time lists of lessons learned during the previous year give way to lists of top ten PV manufacturers. It’s time to ask what these lists mean, and whether they have a purpose to the ongoing growth and health of the photovoltaic industry. So Many Numbers, So Little Time There is more than one way to size the photovoltaic industry and unfortunately, much of the time are the metrics are considered to be synonymous.  The PV industry is sized by capacity, shipments, production, module assembly capacity, installations and...

Bottom line: Major new financing for Recurrent Energy and Apple’s growing partnership with SunPower reflect technology advances that are making solar power plants increasingly competitive with traditional sources. Two solar power plant builders are in the headlines today, reflecting a shift that is seeing this new generation of companies take the spotlight from older solar panel makers that are desperately seeking new buyers for their products. The first headline has solar panel maker Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) announcing that its Recurrent Energy plant-building unit has secured financing for a major new US project, as Recurrent gets set for its...

Doug Young Dr. Zhengrong Shi Suntech Founder, Chairman and CSO.  Photo credit: Suntech Solar panel maker LDK (NYSE: LDK) started its long march to a takeover by the state with a major stake sale this week, but the equally cash-starved Suntech (NYSE: STP) looks like it may put up a bigger fight to maintain its independence. What's happening at Suntech comes down to a single word: Pride. The latest twist at Suntech also has broader implications, as the kind of pride we're seeing...

Tom Konrad CFA The last day for a solar developer to submit an application for the Treasury’s 1603 grant program was September 30th, and only for grandfathered solar projects which broke ground before the end of 2011. Solar panel prices have continued to drop this year, but solar project development remains a capital-intensive business.  The 1603 program allowed solar developers to monetize the solar investment tax credit (ITC) much more quickly than they could otherwise, and this essentially reduced their cost of capital.  As the rush of projects begun before the end of 2011 are completed, developers are looking...

Tom Konrad CFA Inverter for a solar array. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Solar inverter stocks are looking cheap, but until the weaker players are forced out, they are likely to get cheaper. The major publicly traded solar inverter companies are Power-One (NASD:PWER), Satcon (NASD:SATC), SMA Solar (OTC:SMTGF), Siemens (NYSE:SI), Advanced Energy Industries (NASD:AEIS), Schneider Electric (OTC:SBGSF) and upstart Enphase Energy (NASD:ENPH).  Over the  last year the industry has faced eroding margins and an increasingly competitive environment.  This parallels the problems of solar manufacturers: the industry has too much...

Andrew Williams London, UK   On the back of last year's record demand, there are growing concerns that photovoltaic (PV) module supply is set to outstrip demand throughout 2011, leading to significant oversupply in the industry. But are these concerns founded? And if they are, what impact might the oversupply have on the global PV industry? 2011 Forecast According to analysts at UK-based IMS Research, Photovoltaic (PV) module production capacity increased by nearly 70% over the course of 2010, reaching nearly 30 GW by the end of the year.  Looking ahead, IMS anticipates that 35 GW...

I don't write frequently about solar stocks, especially photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers.  While the industry is almost certain to be a spectacular growth story, it's also a story that everyone already seems to know about.  Trader Mark put it well: "these stocks are too driven by retail hands."  The PV story clicks with people, and when that happens, they often buy stocks with little regard to what they are worth.  PV stocks are so psychological, we'd all do well to lie down on a couch before buying. As the IRS is unlikely to allow psychotherapy as an "investing expense," I...