Solar

by James Montgomery 2014 is predicted to be a breakout year for solar financing, as the industry eagerly pursues finance innovations. Many of these methods aren't really new to other industries, but they are potentially game-changing when applied in the solar industry.

Charles Morand Tom and I recently received complimentary copies of a new book called "Investment Opportunities for a Low Carbon World", edited FTSE Group's Director of Responsible Investment Will Oulton*.  The book is a compendium of articles by 31 different authors broken down into three main categories: (1) environmental and low-carbon technologies; (2) investment approaches, products and markets; and (3) regulation, incentives, investor and company case studies. While Tom will provide a comprehensive review of the book once he's finished reading it in its entirety, I will instead review a few selected chapters over...

BusinessWeek has written an article about the investment opportunities available int he Alternative Energy marketplace. Renewable energy is booming. The use of solar power has been growing by more than 30% a year and, except for a hiccup in 2004 when Congress delayed renewing a tax credit so has wind power. Ethanol is heading for record production levels. And there's no end in sight, given high oil and gas prices, an increasing number of government mandates and incentives, and the first real steps toward tackling global warming. Clean Edge Inc., a research and strategy consultant, predicts...

California officials are proposing that half of all new homes in the state be running on solar energy in 10 years, an effort spurred by $100 million in annual incentives paid for by electricity consumers. This type of legislation would be a boon for the solar energy companies in California. In related news Kyocera Corp (KYO) announced today that it will begin large-scale assembly of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules this fall at its maquiladora facility in Tijuana, Mexico, with plans to establish a regional office in San Diego for solar system engineering and marketing.

Spire Corp (SPIR) announced that the Company is using its own SPI-LINE(TM) photovoltaic module production line to fabricate large-format, building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) modules for Kyocera Solar, Inc., demonstrating the capabilities of Spire's versatile manufacturing equipment. In 2005, Spire produced BIPV modules for Kyocera's Solar Grove installation in San Diego, California.

Evergreen Solar Inc (ESLR) announced that the new EverQ manufacturing plant in Thalheim, Germany, has begun making volume shipments of finished solar modules to the Company's customers. The Thalheim plant manufactures Evergreen Solar's new, more powerful Spruce Line(TM) of photovoltaic panels. The Spruce line includes panels up to 190W. Products fabricated at the EverQ plant use Evergreen Solar's patented String Ribbon manufacturing process. String Ribbon is substantially more efficient in the use of silicon than conventional sliced crystalline technologies.

Energy Conversion Devices Inc (ENER) announced that it has received an additional order of 750 kW of photovoltaic (PV) products from Alwitra GmbH & Co. (Alwitra) of Germany, which increases the total planned shipment to Alwitra to 1.5 MW in 2004. "Alwitra, with a large customer base, is a major player in the German roofing market offering PV systems. We are delighted that Alwitra has chosen us to address the rapidly growing PV market in Germany," said Salama Naguib, Vice President of Sales and Global Marketing of United Solar Ovonic.

Nearly 36,000 jobs could be created in Texas if an increase in the national renewable energy standard were adopted, according to a new study released by the Union of Concerned Scientists. A national standard would require that 20 percent of the country's electricity come from clean, renewable sources like wind, biomass and solar.

by Clean Energy Intel Warren Buffett-controlled MidAmerican Energy Holdings on Friday acquired an interest in a second solar project. In the latest deal, the company has acquired 49% of NRG Energy´s $1.8bn Agua Caliente project.This follows the company´s acquisition of 100% of First Solar´s $2bn Topaz Solar Farm less than two weeks ago. As was the case with the first Topaz deal, we know little of the arithmetic faced by MidAmerican holdings in this latest agreement. However, what we do know is the following - Agua Caliente is a $1.8bn project owned by NRG Energy (NRG) in Yuma...

I'm going to be doing some extensive traveling this summer. While traveling I always need to power my various electronic gadgets so I can keep intouch with clients and my office. One of my trips this year is going to London and a photography tour of the English countryside. So I just ordered the Brunton Solar Port to keep all my various batteries charged. I purchased it from Amazon.com and I will do a review once I receive it in a couple days. The Brunton Solar Port 4.4 is available for purchase now at Amazon.com....

Spire Corp (SPIR) received a Nasdaq Staff Determination indicating that the Company is no longer in compliance with the $10,000,000 minimum stockholders' equity requirement for continued listing set forth in Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 4450(a)(3), and that its common stock is, therefore, subject to delisting from the Nasdaq National Market. While this type of event is never a good thing, it certainly doesn't ring the death of this stock. They will just start trading OTC.

Worldwater Corp (WWAT) announced that it has signed a $1,145,800 contract to build and install a solar electric power generation system for Quality Embroidery in Los Angeles, California. The photovoltaic (PV) system will provide electricity for the company, and is expected to substantially reduce electrical usage costs for the facility. With the signing of this contract, on top of its earlier announced 2005 contract backlog of $23 million, the Company issued Revenue Guidance for 2006, projecting Revenue of $25 million to $35 million. I have tracked World Water for a while and I recently received a...

Magnetek Inc. (MAG) announced a reorganization of the Company's operating structure to accelerate growth in alternative energy markets. "Alternative energy products currently account for less than 5% of our quarter-billion-dollar annual revenue," said Magnetek chief executive Andrew Galef. "But that revenue has the potential to increase exponentially over the next few years, based on double-digit growth rates in alternative energy markets and proprietary power conversion products that we are now introducing for solar and wind power markets."

Worldwater Corp (WWAT) announced today that it has executed a $2 million contract for its proprietary AquaMax(TM) pumping system at a California citrus ranch. The announcement was made by Quentin T. Kelly, WorldWater chairman and CEO.

Dana Blankenhorn Any hot investment field is ripe for scams. It's that time for solar energy. Sun Energy of Australia says it has been making “solar inverters”  since 1987. Its directors appear to all be legitimate businesspeople. But look a little more closely. What is a stock photo of the old Merrill Lynch bull doing there? A flower? The Earth, seen from space? And click the “language” icons on the home page. They don't lead anywhere. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has told the Sydney Morning Herald it suspects stock fraud, adding the same outfit...

XSUNX Inc. (XSNX) is working with current manufactures of glass and thin-film products so that they can incorporate their PowerGlass technology into future R&D plans for the manufactures. The Company is providing these manufacturers with samples of Power Glass thin films and plans to adapt the on-going results of these working relationships into its manufacturing process line to meet the needs of its future licensees. XsunX has been getting a great deal of press recently and it looks like the PR engine is going full steam. They are also featured in a Business 2.0 article about...