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China WindPower to Get $942 Million in Loans for Solar Farms
By Bloomberg News Jan 5, 2014 10:25 PM PT
China WindPower Group Ltd. (182), an operator of renewable-energy projects with a market value of HK$5.62 billion ($725 million), said it will get as much as 5.7 billion yuan ($942 million) in loans from the China Development Bank Corp.’s Qinghai Branch for solar farms.
The funds will be invested in more than 800 megawatts of solar projects this year and next, China WindPower said in a statement distributed by PR Newswire yesterday.
China WindPower “will gradually push forward our solar power generation business to become our core business and major profit contributor to the group,” Chief Executive Officer Yang Zhifeng said in the statement.
The Hong Kong-listed company, which mainly develops wind farms, operates 150 megawatts of solar projects, it said last month. The company’s shares have almost doubled since Nov. 21, rising from HK$0.355 to HK$0.69 as of 2:12 p.m. Hong Kong time.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-0...lar-farms.html
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India Delays Solar Auction Bid Deadline for Second Time
By Natalie Obiko Pearson Jan 6, 2014 1:58 AM PT
India delayed the deadline for companies to submit bids in its next national solar auction for a second time after developers raised concerns about the ability of cash-strapped state utilities to pay for power.
The deadline has been pushed back by almost a month to Jan. 20, state-run Solar Energy Corp. of India, which will conduct the auction of 750 megawatts of capacity, said on its website. Earlier, it delayed the deadline from Nov. 29 to Dec. 28.
The auction will be the first since 2011 by India’s National Solar Mission and offer 18.75 billion rupees ($300 million) in grants to cover as much as 30 percent of project costs. Developers will submit bids specifying the funds they’re seeking, and the lowest bidders will win.
While Solar Energy Corp., which will buy power from the projects, has promised companies they will get paid, some developers are worried, according to Bridge to India Energy Pvt.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-0...cond-time.html
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Solar Power Craze on Wall St. Propels Start-Up
By DIANE CARDWELL and JULIE CRESWELL
Published: January 3, 2014
The first inklings of the idea came to Elon Musk and a cousin in an R.V. heading to the Burning Man festival in 2004.
Solar energy, they agreed, could be big.
But not even Mr. Musk, the billionaire behind the Tesla electric car, could have foreseen the solar power craze that is sweeping Wall Street. He and his cousins Peter and Lyndon Rive are riding a wave of exuberance over the industry and their young business, SolarCity.
The company — the nation’s largest provider of rooftop solar systems, with more than 80,000 customers — has not made a dime. And, frankly, no one quite seems to know when, or if, it will.
But SolarCity has captured investors’ imaginations and become a potent symbol of a stock market ascent that makes the vertigo-inducing heights of Twitter seem tame. SolarCity’s share price, which closed at $59.27 on Friday, has soared more than sevenfold since it went public, and the company, which did not exist eight years ago, is valued at roughly $4.9 billion.
Depending on whom you talk to, the rise of SolarCity and similar companies is either a sure sign that solar power is finally having its day or that yet another mania has gripped the markets. Two other companies, SunPower and SunEdison, have also exploded in value. In all, an estimated $13 billion was invested in solar projects in 2013, a tenfold increase since 2007, according to GTM Research, which tracks the industry.
Solar companies have had the wind at their backs lately. The broad stock market is coming off its best year since 1997 — the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index rose nearly 30 percent in 2013 — and the shares of many young companies have leaped from one high to another.
But few have been hotter than SolarCity, in part thanks to the Musk mystique surrounding Tesla Motors, itself a market darling.
This much is certain: The stock market has been very good to Mr. Musk, 42. On paper, his wealth quadrupled in 2013, to more than $5.5 billion, reflecting his stakes in SolarCity and Tesla. As chairman of SolarCity, he has little day-to-day involvement in the company.
“It’s the easiest job I have, that’s for sure,” Mr. Musk said in a telephone interview. “Most of what I do is show up to hear the good news.”
Still, SolarCity and its ilk face formidable challenges. It is trying to outrun rivals in a race to transform the power industry. Utilities are furiously working to undo the incentives that have fueled the solar industry’s growth. A generous federal tax credit is set to shrink in a few years. It has attracted the attention of regulators, who have questioned the way it values the rooftop systems.
And, because of its stock price, it must continue to feed Wall Street’s appetite.
“The market expects them to grow really rapidly for a while — there’s no other way that that price makes sense,” said Shayle Kann of GTM Research.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/04/bu...-start-up.html
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Will Deener: Tesla and SolarCity defy skeptical investors
Will Deener
Published: 05 January 2014 09:17 PM
Updated: 06 January 2014 12:34 AM
The performance of two stocks in 2013 reaffirms my belief in my favorite Wall Street aphorism: The stock market will do whatever it takes to prove the most people wrong.
If six months ago I had suggested that you load the wagon with shares of SolarCity Corp., a seller of solar power, or Tesla Motors Inc., a seller of electric cars, you would have thought I had taken leave of my senses. Both companies were losing money hand over fist, and both were highly dependent on government largesse — specifically subsidies and tax breaks.
And, to top it off, both were among the most highly shorted companies on Wall Street. About 30 to 40 percent of their stock float was shorted, meaning a large slug of investors were betting the shares would fall.
As it turned out, those who shunned these two companies missed out on humongous gains, and the shorts have suffered massive losses. Shares of SolarCity have soared 314 percent in the past year, while Tesla has also seen its stock propelled into the stratosphere with a 336 percent gain.
No one expected these kinds of gains, but as is so often the case, the stock market will do whatever it takes to prove the most people wrong.
Most investors were predisposed to write off SolarCity because, well, it’s involved in solar — a roller coaster industry if there ever was one.
Solar stocks get hot when electricity prices rise and governments in the United States, Europe and China throw large subsidies at the industry. But then they get cold when electricity prices decline, as they did in recent years, or when governments get stingy with their largesse, as Europe did during the last recession.
Also, a couple of years ago, the stock prices of SolarCity and other companies that made solar panels were clobbered because heavy competition pushed down the cost of panels and eroded profit margins. Basically, Chinese manufacturers were making solar panels at cost or even at a loss and flooding the U.S. market.
Since 2010, the average price of a solar panel — which is based on wattage output — has dropped from $1.81 per watt to about 70 cents per watt. Still, the owner of an average-size home can spend at least $15,000 to $30,000 to install a solar system, depending on the number of panels.
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http://www.dallasnews.com/business/c...-investors.ece
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