Investors cause solar to soar as ethanol eases

Investors’ appetites for new alternative-energy companies remain robust, but tastes have shifted: While ethanol-makers seem to have exhausted their favor, Chinese solar-cell makers continue to pull in fresh capital.
IPOs in the solar sector have been dominated by China. Four Chinese solar-power companies have had their debut in 2007, garnering $1.11 billion, after three solar companies went public in the last two months of 2006, raising $508.8 million, excluding overallotments.

According to IPOHome.com, JA Solar was one of this year’s biggest winners with a return on the IPO price of more than 100 percent. JA Solar and its China-based competitors have lured investors with low manufacturing costs compared with U.S. and European solar-cell producers.

That sector still hasn’t reached its exhaustion point, said New Energy’s Liebreich. Other Chinese solar-cell makers may yet come to market and will likely be followed next year by Chinese manufacturers of silicon, the raw material from which solar cells are made.

Times Union