Positive Solar Market Reaction following JASO The solar stocks have been very volatile. It is very difficult investing in this sector, because the sector has become very unpredictable lately. The company which was big not a year ago, went bankrupt today (Q-Cells) and the company which was on the verge of getting bankrupt can see [...]
The EU-China Solar Trade War The European Commission has decided to impose ~40% duties on Chinese solar panel imports from 6th June. This will mark the first step in the escalation of trade tensions between two of the biggest trading blocks in the world. China exported more than $20 billion solar panels to Europe in [...]
China’s solar industry is in total chaos with massive overcapacity plaguing the industry for the last two years. Two of the biggest solar companies LDK and Suntech have already defaulted on their debt, while hundreds of others keep churning out huge losses. Foreign governments are incensed with China’s behavior, with US already imposing anti-dumping duties [...]
Suntech Debt Default Suntech (STP) which is one of the worst managed solar companies in the industry has been going through tumultuous times after it got entangled in a multi-million dollar fraud and firing its chairman and founder Zhengrong shi. The company now has defaulted on $541 million convertible debt, which came up for redemption [...]
Polysilicon Prices The prices of polysilicon have gone up a bit in the last few months as poly producers have sharply reduced utilization to 50% or lower. With prices at $15/kg and costs of $30/kg, many of the smaller poly producers have just shut shop and left the industry. However the bigger players which account [...]
2013 a Better Year for Solar Solar demand in 2012 slowed down to just 5% after a 40-50% CAGR over the last decade. The slowdown was inevitable as solar demand was a massive 30 GW in 2012 compared to just 8 GW in 2008. Europe which was the principal driver of growth has slowed down [...]