Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Solar: And Now, The Rest of the Story (LDK; TSL; YGE)

Today's earliest solar post "A Bifurcated Market in Solar Stocks (ENER; FSLR; LDK; SPWRA; TSL; YGE)" commented on the divergence between Chinese and American solar stocks.
The next post, from Tech Trader Daily, pointed to the negative JPMorgan note on First Solar as one source of the opposite movements. Now TTD relays:

Solar: Piper Sees $30B China Green Stimulus Program

The solar stocks are having another big day, thanks to bullish note from Piper Jaffray’s Jesse Pichel on the prospects for a big Chinese subsidy program for renewable energy.

“While we can confirm that recent news about new solar subsidies from the [Chinese] Department of Construction is too premature to quantify, our checks indicate where there is smoke there is fire,” he writes. “Recent announcements are just the tip of the iceberg.” He writes that contacts at the National Development and Reform Commission say the country is planning a $30 billion, four-year green stimulus program. According to Pichel, the Chinese government at this point has not decided how to allocate the funds. He contends the program is a positive for solar stocks long-term, but that it is too early to quantify the impact on the solar sector, and that it will be “more of a 2010/2011 story.”

Pichel says the $30 billion would be about 5% of the country’s overall stimulus program, and would include projects that involve clean tech, renewables and environmental protection, and that increase energy efficiency and decrease energy consumption. All of the cash would be spent by late 2012 or early 2013....MORE

I know that you can scan TTD on your own but I try to spare you the mind-and-soul numbing parade of horrors coming out of the tech sector (FSI revenues down 60%!? Vitesse lays off 12% of workforce!?).