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4 Solar Stocks Surging More Than SolarCity
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4 Solar Stocks Surging More Than SolarCity

by Zach
written by Zach

I don’t follow stocks much, but my interest in cleantech stocks has been growing since I’ve been covering this sector for years. I recently ran across a couple of interesting posts on solar stocks that I thought were worth a share.

First, Solar Power World’s Frank Andorka recently conducted a very interesting interview with Peter Lynch — an advisor to Principal Solar Institute, an investment banker, and an expert in renewable energy. The interview focused on investing in solar stocks, and simply investing, in general. I won’t try to summarize it, but I think it’s worth a listen, so click on through to that link fo that.

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First Solar Crushes Thin-Film Efficiency Record, Acquires TetraSun (& Stock Surges)
Rooftop SolarSolar $Solar ModulesSolar PV ManufacturingSolar RecordsThin Film Solar

First Solar Crushes Thin-Film Efficiency Record, Acquires TetraSun (& Stock Surges)

by Zach
written by Zach

If I was a gambler, I’d put some of my money on First Solar (and, to be honest, I’m thinking about it). Some of its latest big announcements, which I’ll discuss in more detail below, include: crushing the world record for cadmium-telluride (CdTe) photovoltaic (PV) module conversion efficiency (bringing the record up from 14.4% to 16.1%); acquiring TetraSun (which will probably lead to some more world records); announcing an attractive full-year 2013 guidance and some positive summary financial targets through 2015.

World Record Efficiency

First Solar's R&D team in Perrysburg, Ohio. Photo Credit: Business Wire

First Solar’s R&D team in Perrysburg, Ohio.
Photo Credit: Business Wire

First, in a statement published yesterday, First Solar wrote: “First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR) today announced it set a new world record for cadmium-telluride (CdTe) photovoltaic (PV) module conversion efficiency, achieving a record 16.1 percent total area module efficiency in tests confirmed by the U.S. Departmentof Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The new record is a substantial increase over the prior record of 14.4 percent efficiency, which the Company set in January 2012. Separately, First Solar also set a record for CdTe open circuit voltage (VOC), a critical parameter for PV performance, reaching 903.2 millivolts (mV) in NREL-certified testing. This new record marks the first substantial increase in CdTe VOC in over a decade of international R&D. The new records come just six weeks after First Solar announced a new world record for CdTe solar cell efficiency of 18.7 percent.”

Yep, from the looks of it, First Solar is a record-breaking fiend. That might also explain why it’s the #1 solar developer and #2 solar module manufacturer in the world.

Going on: “Transferring its success in the R&D lab to its commercial modules, First Solar also launched a new evolution of its proven Series 3 thin-film PV module platform, the Series 3 BlackTM, which incorporates First Solar’s latest advances in conversion efficiency as well as additional features to enhance its performance in utility-scale power plants. The all-black module’s change in appearance results from the use of an advanced, all-black edge seal technology combined with an innovative encapsulation material that further enhances its field durability and demonstrates improvements in accelerated life testing results.”

Remind you of something? Perhaps SunPower’s new X-Series solar panels (which are quite black themselves and also hold a world record in efficiency).

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