Tag Archives: panel

Canadian Solar Caps 2013 With Mega Deals

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Canadian Solar in 100 MW China deal

The year 2013 will go down as a major turning point for China’s solar panel makers, with some names emerging as new sector leaders after a prolonged downturn while others quietly disappeared. The latter category saw former leader Suntech (OTC: STPFQ) go bankrupt and LDK (NYSE: LDK) quietly sell off many of its assets, while the former category has seen Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) and Shunfeng (HKEx: 1165) emerge as names to watch in the future. Canadian Solar in particular has been coming back strong in the second half of this year with a steady stream of good news, including its latest mega-deal to sell panels in China. Read Full Post…

LDK: An Exploding Star for a Sector in Turmoil

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The bloodbath also known as China’s alternate energy sector is nearing the end of its worst reporting season on record, and newly updated guidance from problem-plagued LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) should provide a spectacular finale to the show. (company announcement) The company won’t release final figures until the end of this month, but it has revised down all of its previous forecasts for the second quarter by 20 percent or more, including a staggering 63 percent downward revision in shipments of modules, the final product in the solar energy production chain. At the same time, its gross margins tumbled to about 2 percent from a previous forecast of about 24 percent, and it wrote off $60 million in inventory, which is the company’s way of preparing the market for a massive net loss when it releases its actual results. The company made its announcement after New York markets closed on Thursday, and not surprisingly its shares were down 21 percent in after hours trading. LDK’s dismal report follows downbeat results from nearly everyone, including the most recent forecast-missing figures from Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) (company announcement). Despite signs that the downturn has bottomed, severely depressed valuations this week prompted mid-sized player Renesola (NYSE: SOL) to approve a shareholder rights plan, often called a poison pill designed to prevent hostile takeovers, in a sign that we’re likely to see some consolidation in the months ahead for this bloated sector. Such consolidation would mean smaller companies like Renesola could become acquisition targets. But major money losers like LDK are likely to find little interest from potential buyers, forcing them to sell off assets or even to file for bankruptcy if they run out of funds.

Bottom line: LDK Solar’s sharply lowered Q2 guidance reveals a company on the brink of crisis, boding poorly for its future as the broader solar sector struggles to emerge from its current downturn.

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ Renesola Rights Plan: Consolidation Coming

◙ LDK: Cash Crunch Looming? 赛维LDK即将囊中羞涩？

◙ Trina, Ming Yang Kick Off New Wave of Energy Deals 天合光能、明阳风电掀起新一轮能源“订单潮

China’s Solar Plan: Get Ready for Big New Spending

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After months of talk, China has finally come out with some concrete details of how it plans to support its struggling solar panel makers, rolling out a new set of state-set electricity rates designed to make solar power generation economically attractive. Under the new rates announced earlier this week, solar power producers will be able to charge 1.15 yuan per kilowatt hour for their electricity, according to Chinese media reports. (Chinese article) Shares of major names like Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL), Suntech (NYSE: STP) and Yingli (NYSE: YGE) briefly surged on the news, but then gave back most of their gains after investors and industry watchers did some number crunching and realized the new rates were far from ground-breaking. One industry source told me that under the new rates, a relatively well-planned and managed power producer might expect to earn an annual return of 2-3 percent — not very exciting when other options are available at much lower risk levels. In order for this plan to work, local governments will have to step in and offer their own incentives for building new solar power plants — something that will probably happen on a much more piecemeal basis. Following the central government’s announcement, I would expect to see a string of announcements of new projects in the months ahead as local governments and big state-controlled power producers like Huaneng (HKEx: 902) fall into step with the central government’s policies. Industry leaders with strong government connections, such as Hong Kong-listed GCL Poly Energy (HKEx: 3800), could be some of the biggest beneficiaries of a new round of China construction that could see the nation install as much as 10 gigawatts of new capacity by 2015 and 50 gigawatts by 2020. (previous post) The new policy should also receive general public support because of its green nature, making it less prone to potential cuts under a likely new wave of cutbacks in major new government programs sparked by Beijing’s desire to cool the economy.

Bottom line: Beijing’s announcement of new tariffs for solar power projects presages a series of new solar power projects in the coming months to support the struggling solar panel sector.

Related postings 相关文章:

◙ More Solar Woes at Trina, Renesola 昱辉阳光、天合光能：旧伤未去，新伤又来

◙ Latest Solar Audit Resignation Hints at Major Issues Ahead 中国太阳能行业再现审计人员辞职：昭示问题还在前方

◙ China Backs Solar Firms With Europe Financing 中国继续支持国内太阳能企业