SunRun, a home installation solar company, and PV Solar, an authority on California solar market data, announced that third-party-owned solar has eclipsed cash purchase as the preferred way to go solar in California. Also known as leasing or solar power service, third-party-owned solar represented approximately 59% of California's home solar market in Q3 2011 and 51% of the market year to date.
According to a new study by IMS Research, PV component profits are expected to fall by 70% year-on-year in Q4 2011. Furthermore, an examination of the polysilicon, wafer, cell, module and inverter industries led the research organization to conclude that the continuation of dropping prices in 2011 will cause gross margins for the whole PV industry to drop 17% to 12.4% in Q4.
Only a few weeks before releasing third-quarter 2011 financial results on October 27, 2011, inverter supplier, Power-One has reduced guidance for the quarter. Power-One expects revenue to be in the range of US$240-US$245 million, down from previous guidance of US$265 million-US$280 million. The company cited weaker than expected demand for lower revenue expectation. Sales in the second-quarter were US$180 million.
Inventory writedowns and a weaker-than-expected recovery in demand for PV installations, specifically in Germany, are behind revised financial guidance by Phoenix Solar. The project developer warned of significant losses for the fiscal year 2011 and said it would be looking at its current business model in an effort to make changes and reduce costs to return to profitability in 2012.
UK based Foresight Group has signed a joint venture agreement with Quercus Renewable Energy Fund, a division of the Luxembourg-based Quercus Asset Selection, for the expansion of its investments in the Italian solar PV market. Quercus bought a 50% stake in Foresight’s Luxembourg holding Foresight Lux Co 2, which controls 40% of ForVEI, a company that was established by investors with help from Foresight, who were looking to buy interests in Italian PV plants.
SunEdison and KGAL recently finalized an agreement that sees KGAL buying 33MW of solar PV systems from SunEdison, which are located in Italy and Spain. Financial and specific project details were not released, but the recent acquisition comes after KGAL completed a 20MW purchase from SunEdison in Q2 2011.
Venture capital to the tune of US$350 million in 33 deals was handed out to solar-based firms in the third quarter of 2011, according to the latest roundup by Cleantech Group. Also of note was a reported US$812 million raised four China-based solar cell/module manufacturers via IPOs.
No surprises after announcing it was entering into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US, Evergreen Solar has been officially delisted from Nasdaq. Evergreen Solar stock was suspended from the exchange on August 24, 2011 and has not traded on NASDAQ since that time.
SkyPower has secured a CAD$67 million revolving credit facility from Deutsche Bank, to be used to support the ongoing development of SkyPower's portfolio of utility-scale solar projects in Ontario, Canada. The facility is a letter credit facility innovatively structured to leverage the benefits of Ontario's green energy program and feed-in tariff.
Citing the ongoing challenging market conditions, notably in its residential and commercial segments, SunPower will revise its revenue and earnings outlook for 2011. However, SunPower has a strong utility-scale project pipeline, especially within the US. The new 2011 guidance will be announced in a month, during its third quarter financial results, issued on November 3.
