Evergreen Solar just announced that a new 5MW Italian solar plant is online using Evergreen Solar panels, the largest Evergreen installation thus far. The plant uses 24,600 Evergreen Solar ES-A series String Ribbon solar panels to produce  sufficient electricity for about  2,400 homes.

In a press release, Scott Gish, Evergreen Solar’s vice president of sales and marketing, commented on the news:

“This is a milestone project for Evergreen Solar as we continue to expand our company’s global footprint with the largest installation in company history. Italy is an important and growing market for solar power because of the country’s high amount of sunlight. Our solar panels are particularly well liked as they deliver the most electricity with the smallest carbon footprint of any silicon-based panel.”

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Piper Jaffray has initiated coverage on Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE) this morning with an Overweight rating and a price target of $19. Hat tip to Street Insider for the following analyst comment:

“We believe this vertically-integrated ethanol producer is poised to deliver significant earnings growth over the next two years through much-improved ethanol production margins and the potential for highly-accretive M&A activity. The company’s recent capital raise strengthens the balance sheet and positions GPRE to pursue internal expansion plans and acquisitions across business verticals (most notably ethanol facilities)…Favorable supply & demand dynamics have led to a resurgence in ethanol production margins since early 2009…We estimate that ethanol acquisitions (for a standard 110 million gallon facility) would add $0.30-$0.40 in EPS and $27-$33 million in EBITDA in year 1, assuming the purchase price is ~$1.00/gal of production…From a regulatory standpoint, the increase in the RFS mandate in 2010 and the potential for the EPA to lift the ethanol blendwall later this year present positive macro catalysts for the stock.”

===> Click Here For Your FREE Green Plains Analysis

According to Street Insider, Piper Jaffray has responded to a negative Barron’s article over the weekend saying that the article is another sign that the negative sentiment on solar stocks has been priced in already and that the sector is poised to rebound with better visibility in the second half of the year.  They went on to say that the German feed-in tariff cuts should stimulate growth and reiterated their Overweight ratings on Yingli (YGE), Trina Solar (TSL), Canadian Solar (CSIQ), JA Solar (JASO), ReneSola (SOL) and First Solar (FSLR).  They do agree with Barron’s in that the industry is in need of consolidation with the biggest and most efficient manufacturers increasingly benefiting. 

Solar stocks didn’t recover much today on the analyst note and remain down across the board for the most part (STP and CSUN are a bit green)

In a weekend piece over at Barron’s, Eric Savitz sees a rough road ahead for the solar industry as capacity continues to outpace demand for years to come.  He highlights the fact that while demand has picked up ahead of the German solar subsidy cuts in a few months, capacity still outpaces demand and the situation will only worsen as the German subsidy cuts take place, putting some solar laggards out of business. 

Its a natural evolution of any evolving industry and the solar industry is still in need of a shakeout.  It’s actually amazing that so many solar companies managed to survive the financial collapse of 2008, but don’t expect many of these companies to survive in the years to come.  Some will get bought out, some will go under, but the industry is in great need of consolidation.

Savitz points out that Lux Research analyst Ted Sullivan sees supply and demand coming violently back into parity through company failures and zombie firms in China, where much of the excess takes place.  However, he doesn’t think US based firms are immune and singles out Evergreen Solar (ESLR) and the solar division of Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) as vulnerable. 

===> Click Here For Your FREE Evergreen Solar Analysis

===> Click Here For Your FREE Energy Conversion Devices Analysis

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