Judging by the excitement around the unveiling of the Bloom Box, you’d think it was the Second Coming.
The green blogs fell all over themselves repeating the breathless “Holy Grail” speculations in Lesley Stahl’s 60 Minutes report, which was indistinguishable from an in-house marketing puff piece.
Bloom Energy’s media blitz ended eight years in stealth mode, and the star-studded coming-out … Read the rest
T. Boone Pickens told the Houston Chronicle yesterday that he expects Congress to pass the Natural Gas Act by Memorial Day. If it’s passed, the act would greatly increase the use of natural gas as a fuel for heavy-duty fleets, which would be a boon (pun most definitely intended) to Pickens’ company Clean Energy Fuels. Consuming the equivalent of 21 barrels of crude oil per day, the oil used to fuel heavy-duty fleets represents a … Read the rest
First Solar (FSLR) and Cree Inc (CREE) are two stocks moving in opposite directions, but they have one thing in common – the Chairman of both companies, Michael Ahearn at FSLR and Chuck Swoboda at CREEl, have been dumping stock. According to Street Insider, Ahearn has sold off 43% of his holdings or nearly $150 million just days after the company reported earnings. A move like that doesn’t exactly exude confidence and the stock … Read the rest
China solar stocks have been crushed over the past month, but today are green on a day when the market is down significantly. This is the kind of relative strength that indicates that perhaps they have reached a turning point. I think it’s too soon to call a bottom in the China solar stocks, but this is a good start. The relative strength certainly isn’t without a catalyst .. Deutsche came out with a bullish … Read the rest
GT Solar International (SOLR) announced a $20 million order for its DSS450 solar ingot furnace about a week ago and the CEO commented then that the company was seeing a pickup in demand as China solar manufacturers look to increase capacity.. he wasn’t kidding! This morning the company has announced $200 million in new orders for its industry leading furnace, ancillary equipment and services. The new orders include a $137 million follow on order (which … Read the rest
Real Goods Solar recently celebrated the completion of a 417 kW system for Richmond Village, an affordable housing community in the San Francisco Bay area. The company will participate in an official ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 4th. So far, Real goods Solar has designed and installed 790 kW worth of solar installations for affordable housing communities in the area.
PlanetSolar just revealed the world’s largest solar-powered boat to the world at the HDW shipyard. The catamaran is powered by 38,000 next-generation solar cells from SunPower. PlanetSolar will start testing the boat in March, and next year it will go on a world tour.
In a press release, SunPower Senior Director Jorn Jurgens commented on the news:
“We are proud to support the unveiling of the world’s largest solar boat, powered by SunPower’s high-efficiency … Read the rest
Suntech announced that their solar panels are being used to power a net-zero showcase home for the Vancouver Winter Olympics. The house, which is currently being used to house Olympic athletes, produces as much energy as it consumes each year, thanks in part to 6 KW of power generated by Suntech’s Just Roof (TM) solar roofing system.
The house, designed by RDC Homes, is so efficient that on an annual basis it may even produce … Read the rest
Yingli Green Energy just announced the signing of a 3 year framework agreement with German solar integrator Gehrlicher Solar AG. Per the agreement, Yingli will supply 285MW worth of PV modules to Gerlicher for the next 3 years, until 2012. The modules will be used in installations across various European markets.
In a press release, Mr. Liansheng Miao, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Yingli Green Energy, commented on the agreement:
Trina Solar (TSL) has posted strong earnings results this morning, beating analyst estimates by a decent margin. The company posted .74/share on revenues of $313 million. Analysts were looking for only .60/share on revenues of $283 million. The quarter was a big improvement over the year ago period when the company reported just .26/share and also represents a nice bump sequentially. Earnings increased about 15% and revenues 25% over last quarter.
Judging by the excitement around the unveiling of the Bloom Box, you’d think it was the Second Coming.