SOLAR BIZ GETS BOOST

How Will Solar PV Businesses Benefit From the New Incentives? Potential Impact on Solar Stocks First Solar, Sunpower, Evergreen Solar, Spire, SunTech and XsunX
March 13, 2009 (MarketWire via MSNBC)

"…[T]he Green Investor report Solar PV businesses may benefit from the new incentives [by Paulo J. Nery is] for investors following solar stocks…Solar stocks have taken a major beating in the past few months. The Claymore MAC Global Solar Energy Index ETF, TAN, has fallen 78% in the past six months. Most listed solar companies have fallen from 50% to 87%…

"…[T]he newly passed economic stimulus bill…should start boosting demand…With the extension of the Federal 30% tax credit and the removal of the $2000 cap, home owners will see the price of solar PV get much more affordable…[F]or commercial developers of solar facilities the new bill has provisions that would allow them to take the 30% tax credit as a grant instead."

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"Some of the companies best positioned…are the big market leading companies with adequate cash in hand. US manufacturer First Solar is one of these companies…[T]heir stock price collapse is far less than any of the other solar companies. First Solar also benefits because its panels are made from cheaper cadmium telluride rather than silicon… First Solar said last week that it would begin reducing prices on some of its panels to keep its competitive edge…

"Other well positioned companies include SunPower Corp, because its highly-efficient modules command a price premium…[and] SunPower also installs the systems…Also look at Energy Conversion Devices, makers of Uni-Solar amorphous silicone panels. They were the innovators of lightweight flexible roll out modules that can be directly adhered to roof tops, also known as building integrated PV."

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"SunTech too has bought into the installation and finance business since its acquisition last October of El Solutions, and its joint venture with MMA Renewable Ventures called Gemini Solar Development. Gemini plans to finance, develop and operate solar power plants of 10 megawatts or more.

"XsunX…is another thin film innovator using amorphous silicon who, while at an earlier stage, shows promise….In a recent comparative study the company's module design was shown to deliver the lowest levelized cost of all solar photovoltaic cell technologies. They have so far gained sales contracts for 19 MW deliverable through 2010. And they recently announced a prudent decision to reduce the capacity of their planned manufacturing facility in Oregon [which]…saves the company roughly 25 million…"