The oil industry giants are embracing alternative technologies -- including biofuels, geothermal and solar. Right now, renewable sources provide only a tiny fraction of the profits they derive from oil and gas, but they'll have a real impact on the revenues of majors like BP, Exxon Mobil and Chevron in the not-so-distant future.
LDK Solar has long depended on demand driven by government subsidies from countries such as Germany, Spain and Italy, which makes it vulnerable in this period of European austerity. Trefis has revised its estimates for LDK Solar down -- but still meaningfully above the market price.
Last week, President Obama outlined a new energy policy that aims to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. How can patient investors capitalize on his vision?
Research firm Strategy Analytics projects that global installations of concentrated photovoltaic technologies, which use lenses, mirrors or other optics to concentrate sunlight and direct it in to solar cells, will nearly triple every year for the next four years.
Yes, we've seen this movie before: As costly oil makes solar look good, investors pile in -- only to be let down when overcapacity sets in and oil prices tumble again. But this time, solar's rebound may be on somewhat firmer ground. Investors, though, still need to be cautious.
First Solar, one of the world's biggest solar manufacturers, is looking toward 2011 with plenty of good cheer. According to its latest forecast, released Tuesday, the company expects sales to heat up some 46% in spite of lower subsidies in Germany, the world's largest solar market.
Helped by the expansion of its industrial business, General Electric expect to boost its revenue in fiscal 2011, CEO Jeff Immelt said in a presentation to investors Tuesday.
Republicans can be friendly to solar energy -- just don't use the terms "recovery act" or "stimulus package" when lobbying them for government subsidies. That was the message from GOP political adviser Mary Matalin at the largest solar conference in the country on Thursday.
Just as many were expecting demand for solar products to wane in 2011, LDK Solar, the Chinese maker of solar wafers, raised its shipment and revenue outlook for the third quarter.
Masdar, the $22 billion green city that United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi is building in the desert just outside its borders, has canceled its plans to generate all of its own clean energy and to emit zero carbon -- and says it's running at least four years behind schedule.
Despite a growing market for solar energy, Energy Conversion Devices, which makes flexible films that converts sunlight into electricity, says it will cut 140 jobs from its Michigan operation and move some of the manufacturing to Mexico this fall to cut costs.
Applied Materials is cutting its SunFab line of equipment to make amorphous-silicon solar panels. The move marks the end of the semiconductor-equipment giant's big thin-film solar ambitions. What's next for AMAT?
Oregon is the latest state to notch a big win in the effort to attract green jobs: Silicon Valley solar company Solexant has announced plans to build a large factory to produce thin-film solar panels near Portland. Oregon gets jobs; Solexant gets a $25 million loan and $18.75 million in tax credits.
With comically bad timing, California suspended a key solar incentive just days before some 20,000 solar devotees converged on San Francisco for Intersolar, an industry conference and expo. Why? Because the program has been too successful.
This year is turning out to be a good one for solar energy equipment makers and project developers. Solar panel makers saw a 92% jump in shipments in the second quarter from a year ago, and market research firms have issued bullish outlooks for the industry.