Solar Stocks: Is the Bottom In?

Solar Stocks have made their investors suicidal with drops of of 80-90% from the top common even amongst the biggest solar companies. A number of solar companies like Q-Cells, Solar Millenium, and Solon, which used to be amongst the 10 biggest ones have gone bankrupt. In fact most of the German solar companies have either [...]

First Solar Announces Antelope Ranch Layoffs

The 230-megawatt Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One (AVSR1) photovoltaic power plant being built for Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC) by First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) is facing some challenges. Exclusively to GTM, Assistant Los Angeles County Supervisor Norm Hickling confirmed rumors of “a large layoff” of the AVSR1 workforce on Friday. “I also understand negotiations continue,” Hickling [...]

First Solar Posts Loss; Executives Play Musical Chairs

First Solar (Nasdaq:FSLR) announced its Q1 earnings yesterday and posted its second-ever loss. As reported yesterday, the company appointed Jim Hughes as new CEO, and as reported last month, First Solar idled lines in Malaysia, closed down its German factory, and fired 30 percent of its workforce, or about 2,000 employees. The quarter’s loss was [...]

First Solar Shares Drop to Record Low $FSLR

First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR), the world’s largest maker of thin-film solar panels has seen its value fall to an all-time low today. At 4:00 PM EST, the company’s shares were down 6.78%, trading at $19.25 on the Nasdaq. It has been a difficult day for U.S. stocks, but for First Solar, one of the day’s [...]

Are Thin Film Solar’s Days Numbered?

With solar module prices dropping by over 50 percent in the past year, thin-film PV manufacturers are in a fight for survival. In 2011, the technology’s global market share eroded to 11 percent from its peak of nearly 20 percent in 2009 — a year when thin film’s cost advantages in relation to rival crystalline [...]

First Solar: Restructuring

First Solar (Nasdaq:FSLR) has revealed its consolidation plan. The thin film market leader joins SunPower, the conversion efficiency leader, which is closing its 125-megawatt Fab 1 in the Philippines and moving some of those operation to Fab 2. First Solar is closing its Frankfurt (Oder) manufacturing facility and indefinitely idling four production lines of the [...]

Solar Industry Commits to Environmental Responsibility

While solar offers clean renewable energy, that doesn’t mean making PV has always been an entirely environmentally or socially responsible business. To address the issue, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and a growing number of solar companies are working to develop the voluntary Solar Industry Commitment to Environmental & Social Responsibility, which will ensure [...]

Drama at First Solar’s Antelope Valley Solar Project? $FSLR

Rumors of a verbal dispute involving the Los Angeles County Inspector and First Solar employees at the 230-megawatt Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One (AVSR1) photovoltaic power plant led GTM to the discovery that 3.7 million cadmium telluride thin-film panels that First Solar was preparing to install at the Exelon facility are not Underwriters Laboratory-approved. If [...]

Arizona: #3 in Solar Energy Production

Arizona has solidified its reputation as a world leader in solar energy, with a recent report indicating how robust the solar market is in the state. According to the 2011 U.S. Solar Market Insight Report from the Solar Energy Industries Association, Arizona ranks third in the nation in terms of solar system installation, which was [...]

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