Five Solar Stocks To Own In 2015
By Jeff Siegel This past Saturday afternoon, Rick Diaz locked in another customer. A former roofing contractor, Rick is now a sales rep and installation manager for a small roofing and solar company in Maryland. He tells me most people he talks to about solar have pretty much already made up their minds before he even walks in the door: The investment works out for young couples who are going to be in these homes for more than ten years. But most seem more concerned about the environment than the return on investment. Either way, it's a...
Next Move After the Solar Sell-off
As the solar industry struggles to reduce costs, it stands to reason that the more successful in the group will turn to lower-cost solar concentrating technologies - even as simple as such technology might seem in comparison to solar cells. It makes sense to include solar concentration properties like patent-rich Opel Technologies in a solar portfolio.
From Solar 2009: Removing The $2,000 ITC Cap
Charles MorandLike Tom, I attended part of the Solar 2009 conference last week. One of the most interesting presentations I heard was by Andy Black, CEO of OnGrid Solar, on the potential impact on residential solar installations of removing the $2,000 ITC limit (link to the actual paper). Prior to changes in October 2008, ITC tax credits for rooftop solar PV installations were capped at $2,000. In the author's own words: This paper presents revised and expanded financial analyses of residential cases . It will look at Internal Rate of Return (IRR) only (for simplicity of...
Worldwater & Power Corp. to Provide Solar Electric System for Richard Stockton College of...
Worldwater Corp (WWAT) announced the signing of an agreement to install a solar electric power system on the campus of Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in Pomona. The project involves the installation of the photovoltaic system on the roof of a new building that houses faculty offices and academic space. The project is a collaborative effort between WorldWater & Power Corp. and Eastern Energy Services of Southampton, N.J. WorldWater & Power will provide engineering, materials and equipment required to complete the project in accordance with the proposal.
Evergreen Solar and Q-Cells Announce Partnership with REC
Evergreen Solar Inc (ESLR) and Q-Cells AG (QCE.DE), the world's largest independent manufacturer of crystalline silicon solar cells, today announced a partnership with Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (REC), based in Hovik, Norway. The world's largest manufacturer of solar-grade silicon and multicrystalline wafers, REC is joining EverQ, a strategic partnership between Evergreen Solar and Q-Cells that is currently building a 30-megawatt solar wafer, cell and module manufacturing plant in Thalheim, Germany. This is another piece of good news and the market seems to think so as well. Shares of ESLR are trading up almost 3% this morning compared...
Unprofitable Sunrun Buys Unprofitable Vivint Solar
by Paula Mints
In July, Unprofitable residential solar lease company Sunrun (RUN) announced that it would acquire its unprofitable competitor, Vivint Solar (VSLR). Each share of Vivint stock will be exchanged for .55 shares of Sunrun’s common stock. Sunrun indicated that there were great synergies between the two companies.
Comment: Remember when Tesla (TSLA) adopted Solar City, a company founded by Elon Musk’s cousin? Sorry – remember when Tesla acquired money-losing Solar City and claimed strong growth and profits would follow? Great synergies. A wonderful future. Rainbows, kittens, and a profitable solar future for all.
The residential solar lease and residential PPA offers...
RWE SCHOTT Solar Installs Greece’s Largest Solar Roof
In time for the Olympic Games RWE SCHOTT Solar has begun operation of the country’s largest rooftop solar-energy unit in Athens. Supported by its Greek and German partners, this will help the company to further strengthen its market position in Greece. RWE SCHOTT Solar Inc. is a joint venture of the RWE Group (RWEOY), a global international multi-utility concern with core businesses in electricity, gas, water, waste management and recycling; and the SCHOTT Group, a leading international specialty glass manufacturer.
BT gets behind renewable energy
British Telecom has announced a three-year plan to get all of its energy needs from renewable sources - the biggest such project in the world. The electricity used, worth hundreds of millions of pounds, could power a city the size of Nottingham. Renewable sources of energy include wind, wave and solar power, rather than using fossil fuels like oil or coal.
Northern Power Systems to Supply Remote Power Systems in Alaska
Northern Power Systems, a subsidiary of Distributed Energy Systems Corp (DESC) has been awarded an approximately $800,000 contract for eight hybrid TelePower(TM) remote power systems. The 48VDC systems will supply power for a critical U.S. military application in Alaska. Each of the eight Northern TelePower systems will generate power through a combination of renewable sources consisting of a photovoltaic (PV) array with a single wind turbine and a pair of Thermo Electric generators to be used when the renewable sources are not adequate. The systems are designed to reliably operate year round in the harsh Alaskan environment, particularly...
Western states take lead in the drive for renewable energy
The political climate for many of the western states are slowly starting to change to see the need for conversion to renewable energy sources. These test installations for Solar, Geothermal, and Wind energy are now producing real power for these areas. The key for us is to find the vendors that supply these installations. As the funding increases in these test beds, our growth will increase. Here is a good article from the sfgate.com about the various western states initiatives. "California's goal is to produce 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2017. New Mexico...
DayStar CEO Issues Operational Update
Dr. John Tuttle, Chairman and CEO of DayStar Technologies Inc (DSTI) released a very extensive operational update detailing fundamental progress that has been made by DayStar over the past several months. "Since my last communication of this nature, we have made great progress towards establishing our first product-based revenue opportunities and have announced two new exciting customer relationships. Specifically, on June 9, 2005, we reported signing a purchase agreement with Blitzstrom, GmbH, a PV system integrator of Megawatt-scale PV power plants and a distributor of photovoltaic systems and components in Germany and the EU. This agreement, which could...
ECD Ovonics Announces Strategic Business Restructuring
Energy Conversion Devices Inc (ENER) announced that they are going to be focusing on accelerating the commercialization of its products. The Board of Directors has unanimously approved Management's business restructuring plan to take full advantage of the favorable battery settlement agreement announced on July 7, 2004 and the increasing market interest in solar energy systems and hybrid electric vehicles.
The Pros Pick Four Solar Stocks For 2014
Tom Konrad CFA Green 2014 image via BigStock With the average solar stock having doubled in 2013, it’s much harder to find bargains in the solar industry than it was a year ago. But two of the professional green money managers think there is still value to be found. When I asked them for their top three green stock picks for 2014, they came back with two solar picks each. You can also read about my panel’s green income stock picks and...
Brunton Solar Port 4.4
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....
SatCon Launches Largest Photovoltaic Inverter in the Industry
SatCon Technology Corporation (SATC) announced that it has successfully launched its 500kW PowerGate(TM) inverter. The release of the PowerGate(TM) 500kW inverter was one of SatCon's major R&D milestones for 2006, and positions SatCon as the leading provider of high efficiency inverters for the rapidly growing solar markets. The 500kW AE-500-60-PV-A utility-grade PV inverter was successfully listed to the UL 1741 Standard and also received approval from the California Energy Commission (CEC). The acceptance of this inverter by the various agencies not only gives SatCon the largest commercial PV inverter in North America, it also gives SatCon the...
India Joins The Solar PV Club
Charles Morand One of the - if not THE - most popular debates in solar PV circles is about when exactly the electricity produced by solar PV systems will reach "grid-parity", or become competitive with like-generation fuels (i.e. non-baseload) on a stand-alone basis (i.e. no feed-in tariffs, mandates or rebates). A lot of the time, these discussions slip into arcane sub-debates about module costs, as expressed on a dollar per watt basis, and how far they need to fall for solar PV to be competitive. But module costs are only one part...
