Silver Lining of COP15: The merely “politically binding” accord that resulted from the UN talks in Copenhagen this month “is not the disaster that it at first appears.” It marks “some progress towards closing” the split between developed and developing countries in the UN’s climate negotiation process. — The Economist

Will Cali’s Central Valley Go Nuclear?: If a push by the Fresno Nuclear Energy Group and Areva to build nuclear reactors in California’s Central Valley is successful, “it will set a strong precedent for nuclear energy in the U.S. in general, carrying the potential to dramatically change the country’s power mix.” — VentureBeat’s GreenBeat

Hoku to Resume Construction After Tianwei Deal: “Financially strapped polysilicon start-up Hoku Scientific and Tianwei New Energy Holdings have closed the deal giving Tianwei a majority investment in Hoku.” Construction on Hoku’s Pocatello polysilicon plant is slated to resume as a result. – PV-tech.org

Massachusetts Extends Solar Rebates: State officials yesterday unveiled a successor to the popular $68 million Commonwealth Solar rebate program that made solar energy panels more affordable for Massachusetts homeowners and businesses. — The Boston Globe

French Carbon Tax Struck Down: “France’s Constitutional Council, the nation’s highest constitutional authority, struck down a new tax on carbon emissions, dealing a blow to President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has made fighting climate change a key part of his tenure.” — Dow Jones Newswires

Hoku Scientific, which makes polysilicon used by solar manufacturers, weighed in with another quarter of plunging revenue and red ink on Thursday. It also warned investors that it may lack “sufficient funds to complete the construction of its polysilicon plant” or even enough “to continue as a going concern for the next 12 months.”

The dismal quarter wasn’t a surprise. Last quarter, Hoku explained that a change in revenue recognition was unfavorable to its financials this year. More worrisome — and the news that sent its stock dropping 41 percent in after-market trading Thursday — was that “going concern” part. It means that, if Hoku can’t raise enough cash in the next year, it may not be able to continue operations and could face bankruptcy.

The financial problem centers around a $390 million facility in Pocatello, Idaho, that Hoku hopes will start producing polysilicon for sale next year. To help finance the plant, Hoku had been signing contracts with solar customers like Suntech and Solarfun and receiving prepayments or deposits from them during construction.

In January, Hoku warned that some customers were having trouble making prepayments, with some renegotiating smaller contracts and others simply defaulting. In a press release Thursday, Hoku explained that the situation hasn’t improved since then and that if it can’t find new customers or raise new capital, the plant’s construction — and revenues from it — will be in jeopardy.

Continue reading this story

Solar companies are painting a mixed picture of the sector’s health this month, with some companies surprising with strong results for the latest three-month period, and others disappointing. In the latter camp is Evergreen Solar, which on Thursday posted a loss in the December quarter on weaker-than-expected revenue, prompting its stock to tumble as much as 11 percent in after-hours trading to $1.97.

Evergreen said it swung to a loss of $52.1 million in the quarter, or 32 cents a share. A year earlier, it posted a profit of $788,000, or a penny a share. The loss included $23 million in charges related to the closure of a pilot plant, an $8 million writedown of equipment and $9.7 million in facility startup costs. The company had previously said it was closing a pilot plant in Marlboro, Mass., as it increased production at a new facility in Devens, Mass.

Revenue in the quarter doubled to $44 million, but came in shy of the $46.6 million that analysts had been expecting. On the positive side, Evergreen said it had $178 million in cash and short-term investments, up from $99 million a year earlier.

Gross profit was equal to 4.6 percent of revenue, down from 5.7 percent in the previous quarter and 28.1 percent in the same quarter a year earlier. The company said lower prices and higher costs related to the Devens facility accounted for the thinner margins.

Continue reading this story

“Challenging” usually has positive connotations: something tough but invigorating and capable of making you stronger. These days, it’s being used more and more as a euphemism for “terrible.”

Dustin Shindo, CEO of Hawaii-based solar company Hoku Scientific, used the word in his company’s press release announcing a financial quarter that can, realistically, only be described as terrible.

Three months ago, Hoku forecast revenue for the year ending March 31, 2009 to be between $15 million and $18 million. Now it expects only $5 million. Revenue in the most recent quarter totaled $767,000, 47 percent down from the same quarter a year ago. Analysts following Hoku were looking for $4.9 million in revenue.

The silver lining is that Hoku posted a loss of three cents a share, half of the six-cent loss analysts were expecting. Hoku was down 5 percent in after-hours trading following the earnings, reversing most of the 7 percent gain it made during market hours Wednesday.

Continue reading this story

Hard on the heels of a brutal year for solar stocks, the early days of 2009 are so far putting out a good share of negative news: sell recommendations from research analysts, a dire outlook from LDK, and Evergreen Solar shuttering a pilot plant.

Investors, though, are shutting their ears to the bad news. Evergreen was only slightly down and LDK ended Tuesday slightly up.

Or maybe it’s the case that the brutal selloff from last year was in part pricing in the news from this week.

Monday night, LDK LDK came out with its dispiriting guidance for the quarter just ended and for the coming year. It lowered its revenue guidance in its fourth quarter from a midpoint of $560 million to $430 million. Wafer shipments will fall from 265 megawatts to 250 megawatts, and gross margins will fall from 11.5 percent to 19.5 percent.For 2009, LDK sees revenue at a midpoint of $2.4 million, down from earlier expectations of $3 billion.

Early Tuesday morning, LDK shares tumbled as much as 11 percent on that news, but what looked like a short squeeze left the stock up 1 percent on the day at $14.99.

Continue reading this story

Clean technology in Hawaii is ending the year with a bang. The Aloha State kicked off December with an agreement for Better Place to build an electric vehicle-charging network on the islands, then Khosla Ventures teamed up with utility Hawaiian Electric Co. to evaluate and test solar, lighting, battery and other technologies. And the state is also getting a smart grid under a contract between Hawaiian Electric and Sensus Metering Systems.

Now Hawaii has attracted financing for government solar installations from United Fund Advisors and U.S. Bancorp in the form of an investment company launched with Hoku Solar, a subsidiary of the polysilicon, photovoltaic, and fuel cell company Hoku Scientific.

Continue reading this story

The tug of war between bears and bulls in the solar sector continued this week, with the bulls finally gaining some ground on Friday after what had been a bearish week.

Solar stocks closed mixed Friday despite a flash of good news that could dispel a cloud that has hung over the market for months: New Energy Finance (via Clean Edge) reports that the Spanish government plans to boost a previously proposed cap on solar power capacity, quoting press reports and industry insiders.

The ministry of industry, tourism and trade now plans to allow up to 450MW of capacity in 2009 and 2010, according to multiple media reports. That is above the annual 300MW cap suggested by the ministry in a draft proposal to the Spanish energy commission in July.

It’s not the 1 gigawatt level that many had hoped Spain would lift the cap to, but industry pressure on Spain is likely to remain heavy so there’s the possibility of more concessions. SunPower, Suntech and Yingli -often mentioned as the companies with the greatest exposure to the Spanish market – were flat to 4 percent higher on the news.

Continue reading this story

Solarfun Power Holdings (SOLF) said Tuesday that it signed a long-term supply deal with Jiangsu Zhongneng Polysilicon. It also said it bought out Jiangsu Yangguang Solar.

So overall, two pretty positive business deals for Solarfun. And how did the stock react? It fell nearly 8 percent.

Wading into the solar sector is like dating a manic-depressive. Day-to-day events matter less than the prevailing, protean mood. And these days the mood among solar investors is dark, indeed.

Shares of all the major solar cell and panel makers closed lower Tuesday: Solarfun, Sunpower (SPWR), Suntech (STP), Yingli Green Energy (YGE), Trina (TSL) and JA Solar (JASO) saw declines of between 6 percent and 8 percent. And with the exception of First Solar, stocks are significantly down from their 200-day moving averages as well: Shares of Hoku (HOKU), for example, are down 45 percent from their trading average, Yingli is off 35 percent and Suntech is down 30 percent.

Continue reading this story

This morning, Hoku Scientific posted its results for the March quarter and then saw its stock tumble. It followed a pattern set by shares of JA Solar on Monday and LDK today, as well as other solar companies in recent weeks.

Each company’s stock slid for a different reason, suggesting investors are looking for any excuse to move out of the speculative issues. Hoku abruptly shifted its plans for financing a crucial new silicon plant; LDK saw its profit margins deflate; and JA’s surprised the Street by saying it would raise $300 million.

Shares of Hoku opened Tuesday down 9 percent at $7.50 after it posted a loss of 11 cents a share, excluding certain items, well below the 5-cent loss that analysts, on average, were expecting. The company also said that it’s backing out of a plan with Merrill Lynch to borrow as much as $185 million to finance a polysilicon plant in Idaho. Instead, it wants to raise money through a stock-and-warrants offering on a U.S. exchange.

Continue reading this story

For a while, it seemed like this year’s promising sector was solar power. Then it started to look like it wasn’t.

Now the solar stocks are being whipsawed around on the kind of mundane news that is the bread and butter of every other industry: contracts, partnerships, delayed deals. A case in point: SunPower (SPWR) secured $190 million from Morgan Stanley for solar electric power installations.

Now, $190 million is nothing to sneeze at, but neither does it justify a 15 percent surge in SunPower’s stock in a single day. SunPower’s market cap increased by $1.3 billion on news of a $190 million facility. That’s a jump in market value nearly seven times as big as the money Morgan Stanley is putting up. And I’m sitting here scratching my head over how that makes sense. Especially if you look at the nature of the deal as explained in the press release:

Continue reading this story