It appears that the credit crunch in the financial industry is
beginning to affect demand for solar. While most big solar companies
reported strong numbers for 3Q08, both Q-Cells (QCE.DE) and JA Solar (Nasdaq: JASO) this week lowered guidance for 4Q earnings.
New Energy Finance released a report
stating that three separate factors will significantly reduce the cost
of solar in 2009: lower polysilicon prices, increased competition from
thin-film solar and reduced demand resulting from a tightening of
credit.
In other solar news, the Al-Husseini Group and New Jersey-based Amelio Solar announced plans to build a 1-gigawatt solar power plant in
Jordan. Amelio Solar will begin building a factory in Jordan next year,
which will eventually produce up to 200 megawatts (MW) of thin-film
solar panels a year to be used in the massive solar plant and others in
the region. The joint venture hopes to finish the plant by 2017. The
Al-Husseini Group is a diversified real estate, industrial and trading
organization based in Amman, Jordan.
Also this week, two German solar companies opened factories capable of producing 150 MW of solar modules a year. SolarWorld AG (SWV.DE) opened a plant in South Korea with joint-venture partner SolarPark Engineering Co. And CentroSolar opened a new plant in Wismar, Germany at a cost of EUR 23 million.
Another big story this week concerns Seattle-based Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Company.
News spread this week that the company has applied to the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to install wave energy prohects
off the coasts of six states. Seven different projects were proposed at
an estimated cost of $28 billion, and each project would cover roughly
100 square miles of ocean.
Vancouver-based NaiKun Wind Energy Group Inc. (TSX-V:
NKW) announced that it will submit a proposal into BC Hydro’s Clean
Power Call to supply up to 396 megawatts (MW) of electricity from Canada’s first offshore wind project. The wind farm would be located in the Hecate Strait in British Columbia.
Major U.S. utility American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) said it is evaluating the feasibility of building an extra-high voltage transmission project across the Upper Midwest that would carry electricity generated by wind power in the Dakotas to the Chicago area.
And private equity group Blackstone (NYSE: BX) contributed to the $40 million Series C round of funding for Coskata, Inc.
Coskata is buidling a demonstration plant for cellulosic ethanol
production near Pittsburg. The company has also received funding from Khosla Ventures and has a strategic relationship with General Motors. (NYSE: GM)
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