Solar Energy Stocks

Solar energy isn’t flower power any more. Even leaving aside the potential for massive spikes in oil and natural gas prices during the next few years—which would make all solar energy stocks more competitive—there have been tremendous strides made in increasing the size and efficiency of solar panels and other devices. And costs have declined sharply as well.

Check out our complete archive below for in-depth solar energy sector analysis and top picks in solar energy stocks. To uncover more top solar energy stock recommendations and the brightest rising stars in the green energy sector, sign up for our free report on the Best Alternative Energy Companies to Buy Now.

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First Solar’s lowered sales guidance causes its stock to drop more than 20% in a single day, but the solar energy stock remains profitable and is no Solyndra.

New World San Francisco

by GS Early on September 4, 2009

in Solar Stocks

Entire industries that have dominated the competitive landscape are struggling for relevance, while new insurgent businesses are gaining momentum and disrupting the status quo. The goal of New World 3.0 is to embrace these changes, not to shrink from them. In this space, we identify investment opportunities that are emerge as much of the world rethinks, retools and rebuilds its industries and technologies.

Finally, a use for Stirling Engines (maybe). And think about Xcel Energy’s (NYSE: XEL) proposed grid maintenance fee for solar customers while enjoying a brew at a solar-powered beer festival.

If you don’t change the distribution model, you can put up all the solar/wind/wave systems you want, but you don’t have a game changer. It’s like inventing toothpaste but not having a tube to put it in.

You can either work finding the gold or you can work selling the picks, pans and shovels to the miners. Generally speaking, it’s a much wiser strategy to be a pick-and-shovel guy. And those are the companies I like the most when it comes to up-and-coming nanotech companies: FEI Company (NSDQ: FEIC, microscopy), CVD Equipment (NSDQ: CVV, solar and nanotech manufacturing equipment), Industrial Nanotech (NSDQ: INTK, advanced coatings) and Spire Corp (NSDQ: SPIR, solar turnkey manufacturing).

More Good News for CVD

by GS Early on October 21, 2008

in Solar Stocks

After inking a big sale earlier this month, CVD Equipment (NSDQ: CVV) has announced that its sales have hit $25 million in the first three quarters of the year. Last year’s total sales were $14 million.

As alternative energy production grows and “Made in America” energy becomes a hot topic, the real facts about technology get lost in the mix. Mostly it’s because the details—or as we call it, science—is far more complex than the cool concept it represents. For example, electricity is a very cool thing. But how we distribute it and how it’s actually produced makes heads loll and eyes drift shut.

Spire Stays Busy in India

by GS Early on September 19, 2008

in Solar Stocks

Spire Corporation, a global solar company providing turnkey solar factories and capital equipment to manufacture photovoltaic modules worldwide, announced yesterday that it has received a contract from GreenBrilliance to provide a turnkey photovoltaic module assembly line for that company’s operation in India.

The increasing scarcity of water around the world is forcing a global reevaluation. In much of the developed world, wastewater infrastructure has been built on the assumption of a temperate climate. However, the problem now facing first-world countries is adapting to current wastewater infrastructure amid climate change and more extreme bouts of rainfall. Add in global warming, which will bring more severe storms and flooding interspersed with cycles of drought, and that assumption no longer holds firm.

If there’s one segment of the energy industry that’s often overhyped, it’s alternative and renewable technologies. Proponents speak of these technologies as the key to solving both the world’s dependence on increasingly scarce, expensive fossil fuels and reducing pollution. 

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