Solar Power International Conference in Review

This year's Solar Power International conference attracted 22,500 attendees from over 70 countries beating last years tally by 10,000. The conference offered a platform for industry leaders and politicians to express their views and ideas on where the solar industry is headed and what needs to happen for the industry to thrive in this economic crisis.

Although the overall consensus seems to be optimistic, some major players in the industry like First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) CEO Michael Ahearn stated that they are concerned that the country's current financial crisis, which is spreading like the plague internationally, will have immense detrimental affects on the cost of producing solar power systems.

In contrast Ahearn also believes the recent tax credits that provide utility companies, businesses and homeowners for installing solar energy systems will benefit his company and other solar companies to branch out in the United States.

Even with our current economic condition possibly being the worst our country has seen since the great depression, a view shared by many economists, I believe we still need to focus on solar energy and other renewable energies that will ultimately preserve our environment a sentiment California’s governator Arnold Schwarzenegger shares as well. This being said, we need to look to our government officials to develop and execute with precision plans that will simultaneously harvest economic growth and provide renewable energy and green technology companies with affordable funding.

Let me wrap things up by filling you in on some note worthy developments in the Solar space

• GT Solar (NSDQ: SOLR) announced a $46.8 Million contract with Top Green Energy Technologies last Thursday to provide the Taiwan-based producer of solar cells with polysiliconLDK Solar (NYSE: LDK)

• Sun Power Corp (NASDQ: SPWRA, SPWRB) also reported on Thursday third quarter net income of $22.4 million up from $8.4 million from the same quarter last year and total revenues for the third quarter of $377.5 million up from $234.3 million the same quarter last year.

• However, not all of the solar-related news hitting the wire the news was so bright last week. Evergreen Solar Inc. (NSDQ: ESLR) a Marlboro, MA-based company announced Thursday a net loss of $23.9 million for the third quarter as opposed to a net loss of $3.7 million in the same quarter last year despite an increase in third quarter revenues of 21% to $22.1 million.
production equipment as well as a services agreement which will help fortify their ties with Chinese wafer manufacturer