Renewable Eng. Share Discussion Threads

[grupo] 23/5/2005 08:05

LONDON (AFX) - Scottish Power PLC's US energy unit, PPM Energy, said it will
buy and build the 150 MW Shiloh wind project in northern California, from enXco,
an affiliate of EDF Energies Nouvelles of France.
PPM plans to invest about 235 mln usd on the fully permitted project and
expects the wind farm to be immediately earnings enhancing upon completion.
The acquisition makes PPM the leader in US wind power for announced projects
in 2005.
[e-mail]
jc

[grupo] 23/5/2005 08:04

LONDON (AFX) - Scottish Power PLC's US energy unit, PPM Energy, said it will
buy and build the 150 MW Shiloh wind project in northern California, from enXco,
an affiliate of EDF Energies Nouvelles of France.
PPM plans to invest about 235 mln usd on the fully permitted project and
expects the wind farm to be immediately earnings enhancing upon completion.
The acquisition makes PPM the leader in US wind power for announced projects
in 2005.
[e-mail]
jc

[energyi] 19/5/2005 14:50

Breaking wind
Wind is the most likely renewable energy source to achieve mass adoption soon because it's relatively cheap. With tax credits, wind costs between 3 and 4 cents per kWh, making it a cost-competitive alternative to generating electricity using coal or natural gas. No wonder estimates from the European Wind Energy Association say the global market could reach $150 billion by 2012. That would equal a more than 1,500% increase from $9 billion in 2003, the last full year for which wind market statistics are available.

Even if that estimate proves aggressive, local efforts to make utilities more dependent on renewable energy are sure to aid growth. Consider my home state of Colorado, for example. Last November voters approved Amendment 37, which stipulates that state utilities must generate or purchase 3% of their available electric power from renewable energy sources beginning in 2007. The requirement rises to 10% by 2015.

The amendment is expected to benefit wind power firms the most because, well, we've got an awfully windy state. Plus, Colorado has a number of ranchers who could theoretically lease portions of their land to install wind turbines. If that sounds like a far-fetched idea, consider that the next 20 years is expected to bring more construction of power-generating facilities than in the prior century.

There are lots of good reasons to be enthusiastic about wind power, but sadly there are precious few public companies in the field. Instead, GE has proven to be the dominant supplier of wind turbines. But there are smaller alternatives, including power distributor AES (NYSE: AES), which earlier this month made large investments in wind power projects in Texas, and U.S. Wind Farming, a penny stock on the pink sheets that owns majority interests in wind-generating power cooperatives in rural areas. Both could be promising, but risk abounds. For example, U.S. Wind Farming is still working on its audit and a complete set of financial statements is not yet available at its website. That makes buying shares in the company an act of faith more than an investment at this point.

Renewable profits?
Let's close with a caveat: Each of the small-cap companies mentioned here carry enormous risks because the markets we've covered are still in their formative stages. And they could remain there for years to come. So, tread carefully.

@:

[timbo003] 23/4/2005 08:08

If anyone would like a nice cheap way to invest in wind power (HM government will refund you 40p for every £1 you invest) with a UK listed company, have a look at Ventus (VEN), they are aiming to pay some fantastic (tax free) divis too.

[crystalclear] 23/4/2005 02:46

PC link crashed and my posting lost!

Quick summary.
Air density is about 1/1000 of water density so water power is far better if at sea. Also, mills have to be anchorded to the sea bed, so why not use something small and close to the sea bed, rather than have to divert boats and shipping. And if a techtonic plate shifts, land based windmills and sea based sea power would probably be ok, but change the sea level on a windmill at sea and you could be in a mess - not that its likely to happen, but if you want lots of them and they are expensive its a stupid risk.

Windmills at sea might be better than on land - I won't consider that one. But once at sea, surely one should consider using tides and currents, and water density says to me that is the way to go.

[energyi] 22/4/2005 12:50

Turbines bigger than London Eye will be sent to sea to avoid protests
By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent
(Filed: 20/04/2005)

A British company is planning to build a revolutionary giant offshore wind turbine designed to produce three times as much electricity as the largest models on land. Engineers have drawn up plans for a nine-megawatt offshore machine twice as wide and higher than the London Eye.

Some environmentalists and industry experts believe the future lies in basing large groups of towering multi-megawatt turbines out at sea because they will not provoke protests such as the one over Whinash.

Capable of providing enough power for around 9,000 homes, the Aerogenerator is a new design based around eight blades set into a giant V-shape spinning on a vertical axis. Wind Power Ltd has worked with Grimshaw, the architectural practice behind the Eden Project, to make their 400ft tall design more aesthetically pleasing.

Theodore Bird, who set up Wind Power Ltd, said: "In order for the Government to achieve its renewable energy targets an awful lot of wind turbines are needed. Offshore is the place to do it because there is more space and a lot more wind."

...MORE:

[crystalclear] 19/4/2005 18:05

Maywillow
The sort of ski-lift of sails under the sea idea sounds really good.

Also, £20m for 40 Gigawatts ....
divide by a million
£20 for 40 kilowatts
divide by 020
£1 for 2 kilowatts.

Not bad, £1 for something that would run your washing machine, kettle or dishwasher, presumably continuously and for an indefinite period. Okay, I know you have to transport the power etc, but just putting it in understandable terms for the price of a hot drink you could be making hot drinks continuously. That sounds pretty good.

Cars have coefficients of drag of 0.3 and the aim is to get the figure down!
So getting a coefficient of drag that is higher and converting most of the power to electricity with a generator .... 70% (drag) of 70% (generator) is 49%
so "it is expected that such systems will extract around 28 per cent of the power of the undisturbed water" is easy to believe.

If I had free money, knew how to invest in it, and it was going dirt cheap, I would invest in it. Since I'm already out on the free-cash part, I won't look at the others, but I can imagine it working fine.

===

I just wondered why it couldn't be done with wind energy too.
The wind direction is uncertain, whereas the direction of the tide isn't!
Doh.

[maywillow] 18/4/2005 18:45

SolarWorld Gains On Temporary Weakness

Monday, April 18, 2005 11:55:40 AM ET
Dow Jones Newswire



1535 GMT [Dow Jones] SolarWorld (SWV.XE) +4.4% at EUR97.26, having hit EUR90.30 intraday-low earlier Mon. Merck Finck's Theo Kitz points to heavy losses early Mon which triggered technical buying on temporary weakness. Additionally, notes positive news from solar-grade silicone joint-venture plant, which has started testing phase. Says the plant will help to further lower SolarWorld's dependency on external silicone suppliers. Adds the company currently produces about one third of its required silicone. Still the news shouldn't be exaggerated. Keeps at sell with EUR101 target. (JAH)

[maywillow] 17/4/2005 15:31

Landlocked University of Hertfordshire is modelling a totally new tidal power station concept for a Norwegian firm that believes it has the potential to blow all existing tidal stations out of the water.

Hertfordshire's department of Aerospace, Civil and Mechanical Engineering is testing the patent pending 'Harmonica Model' designed by Norwegian start-up, Tidal Sails AS, in readiness for its first field trials.

Tidal Sails managing director, Harmonica inventor and former airline captain, Are Borgesen, believes a successful model could be 100-200 per cent more power efficient than its competitors. He said: "We will wipe the rest of the competition off the field.

"There is a £5-10 million tidal power station project underway in Norway which will produce about 1.5 gigawatt-hours of power each year. If we build a tidal power station for £20m we expect to produce between 30 and 40 gigawatt-hours of power each year."

The Harmonica technology uses huge sails affixed to long cables at least 20 metres under the surface of the water, in a manner resembling a ski lift.

These are pulled by the tidal stream and feed a generator, which in turn produces electricity. The turning of the tidal stream is effectively harnessed by putting a sail which contributes to one stream on hold until the stream turns.

According to Tidal Sails, the component technologies required for the construction of such power stations are readily available, and although the cost and benefit of each operation will depend on the nature of the local stream, it is expected that such systems will extract around 28 per cent of the power of the undisturbed water.

Professor in Fluid Dynamics, Arne Holdo, is leading the University team, who are using a CFD-modelling (Computational Fluid Dynamics) program to predict the behaviour of the sails in the water.

He said: "We are conducting fluid mechanic modelling to test their predictions. The computer simulation will underpin predictions on performance and configuration of the station: the strength of materials and machinery.

"This includes the optimum distance between the sails, their size and shape and the angles they need to be at in relation to the tidal flow.

"This is different to other designs, which are based on turbine technology. The designers have worked on the assumption that the bigger area of flow they can capture, the more power they can capture.

"They can also have fairly large sails to generate larger amounts of power."

Tidal energy uses the natural ebb and flow of coastal tidal waters. For tidal power to work there needs to be at least five metres difference between high and low tide.

According to the DTI there are only about 40 sites in the world with this tidal range, including some on the west coast of the UK.

Borgesen believes that once a site has been allocated it would be possible to have several hundred of the sails lying side by side, all feeding power into the National Grid.

"Once we have selected a site we could put hundreds of models side by side. At 20 metres below the surface the plant will be out of reach of any huge tankers passing above and will also avoid many of the problems that plant life can bring."

The predictable nature of the tides is also seen as a major advantage of tidal power as a renewable energy. Holdo said: "Tidal power is totally predictable as opposed to wind power.

"The computer simulation results, which are expected by the end of this week, will be evaluated by Tidal Sails in Norway. No location has yet been identified for the first station but Borgensen is looking keenly towards the UK.

"We would be very happy to build the first one in the UK," said Borgensen. "Norway has a very small market and is not one we are really looking at. We definitely want the UK market, South East Asia and then the rest of the world."

[energyi] 14/4/2005 23:39

LIST

RENEWABLE & ALTERNATIVE ENERGY // for the 21st Century

..

Symb. Alt.Energy Cos--- Price shs. MktCap Country
..... (UK Quoted)
DOO.L D1 Oils Plc...... 468.P 21.3 £89.mn UK.... Biofuel Oil
MNE.L MerLyn New Energy 27.3P 199. £54.mn UK.... Alt.Energy Fund
OPT.L Ocean Power Tech. 91.0P 51.5 £47.mn UK.... Wave Power
ROM.L Romag Holdings... 84.5P 41.5 £35.mn UK.... Glass
..... (Fuel Cells)
AVA-- Avista Corp......$18.26 48.3 $883mn USA... Diver.,Utility etc.
BLDP- Ballard Power....$11.54 116. $1.3Bn USA... Fuel Cell Technology
DESC- Distr.Energy.....$ 3.39 33.9 $115mn USA... Membrane Fuel Cells
FCEL- Fuelcell Energy..$13.18 47.7 $633mn USA... Fuel Cell Technology
HYGS- Hydrogenics......$ 6.05 53.1 $321mn Canada Membrane Fuel Cells
IDA-- Idacorp..........$31.64 38.2 $1.2Bn USA... Utility w/ Hydropower
MKTY- Mechanical Tech..$ 6.05 27.6 $167mn USA... Incubates Alter.Energy
MDTL- Medis Tech.......$14.66 24.5 $330mn USA... Distr.of Israeli Technology
MCEL- Milennium Cell...$ 2.65 34.4 $ 91mn USA... PureHydrogen Process
NNI-- Nelnt Inc........
PLUG- Plug Power.......$ 9.42 60.9 $574mn USA... Fuel Cells, residential
SATC- Satcon Tech......$ 2.75 24.9 $ 68mn USA... Natgas to Elec.conversion
UQM-- UQM Tech.........$ 2.47 19.6 $ 49mn XXX... High Effic.Motors; hybrids?
QTWW- Quantum Fuel.....$ 9.43 31.3 $296mn XXX... Fuel Systems; hybrids?
EGYV- Energy Visions...$ 0.17 27.8 $4.7mn Can.?.(XXX)
PC.v- PalcanFuelCells..C$0.39 ??.? $x.xmn Canada Membrane Fuel Cells
..... (Geothermal, NoAm)
CPN-- Calpine Energy...$ 2.65 538. $1.43B USA... Natgas & Geothm.Power #17686
EECI- Empire Energy....$ x.xx .... $...mn US?... #157526
NGP.v Nevada GeoPower..C$0.42 .... $...mn Can... #1465311
USEY- U.S.Energy Syst..$ 1.17 11.9 $14.mn USA... Geothm.& Biogas #12530
GTH.v US Geothermal....C$0.88 .... $...mn Can... #1626665
WGP.v Western Geopower.C$0.75 .... $...mn Can... #1565617
..... (Energy Storage)
ACPW- Active Power.....$ 2.64 48.6 $128Mn USA... Flywheel Storage

Other
Symb. OTHER Companies-------- MktCap Country
MDTL- MedisTechnology........ $330Mn.USA. (178268) Distr.of Israeli Technology
CPST- Capstone Turbine....... $224Mn.USA. (180879) MicroTurbines,low emission
IMCO- Impco Technologies..... $130Mn.USA.. (44141) GasPowered Engines
CESI- Catalytica Energy...... $ 60Mn.USA. (377058) Pollution Prevention
WPT.t Westport Innovations... $ 81Mn.Can.. (49393) NatgasEngines,low emission
SLRE- Solar Energy........... $small.US?. (765374) ??
APWRQ Astropower.(BB)........ $ 3.Mn.US?. (101606) Renewable Energy USA
xxxx- Solarworld............. $ xxMn.Germany (???) Renewable Energy
XXXXX Xantrex................ $ xxMb.USA. ........ Power Invertors



Symb. FUEL CELL Cos-----Price shs. MktCap Country

Symb. Company Name------ MktCap Business
China
AltEn
v.DJI Daijin Resources..$xxxx xx.x C$xxMn Can.VX Windfarm, China
v.PC- Palcan............$xxxx xx.x C$xxMn Can.VX Fuelcells, China etc
AltEn
..... USbb. - Dynomotor
MKBY- USbb. - McKenzie Bay...... C$xxMn Windpower & storage, Global
..... TVE.. - Nevada Geothermal. C$xxMn Geothermal power, US
Mng-Ch

Symb. China, Gen'l/ UK quote--- MktCap Country
CYC.L CYC Holdings...... £xxxMn Investment Bank, China
LA?

= = = = =
LINKS:
Yahoo Finance....:
Alt-E Blogspot...:

[energyi] 14/4/2005 23:27

CC,
interesting comments

[crystalclear] 14/4/2005 15:39

Ballard are a fuel cell company and pressure to reduce oil consumption means that the high efficiency and available solutions will win out over inefficient future technology.

Hydrogen fuel cells are a clean technology, providing there is a clean source of hydrogen but batteries seem to be a better store of energy from wind power, rather than electrolysis of water to hydrogen, wasting energy compressing it, and then turning it back into electricity. What is required for cars is mechanical motion and that is what engines are good at.

Solar panels are good for houses - not solar cells, but directly heating water for washing etc. Some work with partial vacuum tubes so the internal parts won't get cooled down even by rain and can work on cloudy days producing boiling water. (A one metre by a few centimeters black blade connects to an inner tube at an angle which contains just a few ccs of water, so the heat from a largish area is concentrated into a small volume.)

=

Sewage works should be combined with vegetable waste disposal to create biogas and fertilizer. I don't know if anybody is working on that on a large commercial scale.

A good biogas plant at a farm can provide the farm with fuel for the tractors and fertilizer created from the vegetable waste and animal excrement, with maybe enough biogas left over for a small community's power needs. In that way self sufficient units of population are not too hard to create in countries that are not already overpopulated with nonessential workers.

=

Why am I knocking fuel cells?

Hydrogen fuel cell efficiency? 50% say.
Energy needed to compress hydrogen to make it useful? 1/3 of its energy content.
Electric motor efficiency? 80% maximum say.

0.50 * 0.75 * 0.80 = 0.40

So if hydrogen was abundent, we could maybe use it to power 40% efficient fuel cell cars.

But it isn't abundant. Why throw away the carbon energy content of petrol, gas or coal to then run a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle that is less efficient than a VW Lupo 3L TDI? (About 43% efficient.)

=

If India and China want to drive cars then energy will be such a problem that all energy efficient technologies will benefit. Buy now pay later solutions like nuclear energy and its cleaning up costs might be politically unavoidable too, passing problems on to later generations.

Proton annihilation is the real solution, but we won't get the technology for it. Water -> Oxygen plus power, with no CO² or nuclear pollution. I think each annihilated proton liberates about 800 mega electron volts. Nuclear power is mass destruction using tiny fractions - atoms don't weigh exactly 1,2,... but have small discrepancies - if you can convert a particle weighing 2.01 to two particles weighing 1 then then extra 0.01 of mass is converted to energy. Proton destruction liberates energy in significantly larger quantities: a proton weighing about 1 (atomic mass unit) is converted to energy. You can see the power released is a few orders of magnitude higher. A gram of water per socond could power the whole country several times over, even in an inefficient converter.

Will India and China want cars?
Tata in India should bring out the 1 lakh car (100,000 ruppees, ie about 2000 euros) in around 2007. Salaries in China are reported about 1/6 of US salaries (for car makers), and yet many cars are sold for more in China than in the US. Clearly car prices in China will plumment and sales will boom. Its just how the transition is controlled that is uncertain.
China tops the world in meat consumption, cereal consumption, coal consumption, etc. So with its large population, why not cars? Their time will come.

[energyi] 14/4/2005 07:12

Some of the stocks in the Header (Ballard, Capstan, etc.)
are really getting WHACKED now.

MNE is also under pressure (falling NAV?)

[maywillow] 14/4/2005 06:49

Solarworld initiated with "buy"

Wednesday, April 13, 2005 3:13:06 PM ET
Deutsche Bank


LONDON, April 13 (newratings.com) - Analyst Alexander Karnick of Deutsche Bank initiates coverage of Solarworld (ticker: SWV) with a "buy" rating. The target price is set to €115.

In a research note published this morning, the analyst mentions that the company is expected to benefit from the anticipated healthy demand growth for photovoltaics. The analyst expects the global photovoltaic market to grow by 25%-30% till 2010 due to the high oil prices and Kyoto Protocol. Solarworld is expected to increase its production capacity significantly, Deutsche Bank says.

[waldron] 30/3/2005 06:21

Wind-power firm gets Spanish bid
Bloomberg News
Wednesday, March 30, 2005


Acciona, Spain's fourth-largest construction company, offered Tuesday to buy Australia's Pacific Hydro for 709 million Australian dollars to expand in wind power, a business growing faster than its building operations.

Acciona offered 4.50 dollars, or $3.50, a share in cash, 2.3 percent more than Pacific Hydro's previous closing price. Pacific Hydro's biggest shareholder, Industry Funds Management (Nominees), does not want to sell its 32 percent stake and is said to be in talks with Acciona about joint ownership.

The Spanish company last month said it planned to spend as much as €2 billion, or $2.6 billion, to triple its wind power business, adding to plants in Spain, Germany, France, the United States and Canada. Wind-energy capacity in Australia almost doubled in 2004, driven by regulations promoting it.

Pacific Hydro stock has gained 42 percent since the company was put up for sale in October. It closed Tuesday at 4.48 dollars, up 8 cents.

Wind is Australia's fastest-growing energy source and wind-energy use is forecast to increase by 16 percent a year through 2020, compared with 3.7 percent a year for natural gas, according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics.



Acciona may decide to reduce its 90 percent acceptance limit to 50.1 percent should Industry Funds Management decide not to sell, said Jeff Harding, Pacific Hydro's managing director.

[crystalclear] 19/3/2005 23:19

That is a sponsored project and a fuel cell project, so its not really 'blue' energy. It's gas based so fine for Canada which has something like 50 years gas left.

There is another article on the same site

where a fuel cell motorbike has been made to demonstrate fuel cell technology. Power is 1 kW. This is less than but comparable to the Peugeot Quad at the Paris motor show which I believe could manage 2 horsepower. They mention 2.5 kW of hydrogen supply so efficiency is presumably about 40%. Hopefully that is to the wheels (ie including the inefficiency of the electric motors). When combined with the inefficiencies of creating pure hydrogen and the fact that about 1/3 of the stored energy in hydrogen is needed to compress it into a storage tank things are not looking great for the fuel cells.

Compressed biogas from household waste, (generating fertilizer as a by-product,) and burning the gas in an internal combustion engine seems a better solution to me.

[topbidd] 19/3/2005 17:59

Fuel Cell Technologies Limited, a leading developer and producer of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), today announced that it has installed its first residential system in Canada. The residential trial of FCT's SOFC system in a house at the Canadian Centre for Housing Technology (CCHT) in Ottawa is part of a $260,000 joint project with Natural Resources Canada.

[energyi] 19/3/2005 15:09

We Need a Re-Think

Wall Street has been forecasting $20 oil for the last 3 years. A few investment houses have raised their oil projections to $30 a barrel. Instead of $20 oil, we should be thinking about the consequences of $80 and $100 oil. We are more likely to experience $80 oil than we are ever to see $20 oil again--and $80 may not be too far off the horizon. We should also be thinking about alternatives such as wind, solar, shale, coal and nuclear power. Unfortunately the only thing we have done is to focus on military power and foreign sources of supply. Here too the U.S. is running into stiff competition from China, India and other Asian countries whose energy needs are growing far faster than the U.S.'

Because we have ignored all of the early warnings of peak oil, it is unlikely that we will discover an immediate substitute for oil and natural gas. The time clock is ticking and there is no time for research and development. According to Deffeyes we should look at existing options and begin developing them. Deffeyes' short list of options is as follows:

1) Convert to high –efficiency diesel cars and hybrids
2) Coal-fired electrical plants
3) Wind turbines
4) Nuclear power plants
5) Conservation

...MORE:

6) All of the above ??

[pc4900074200] 11/3/2005 17:12

This is South Wales. 11-03-2005.

WINDFARM VICTORY ON HORIZON.

Anti-wind farm campaigners are on the verge of victory in their battle against part of the so-called ring of steel which could surround Swansea Bay. One thousand of them have objected to plans for five wind turbines, standing at an overall height of 100 metres, at Mynydd y Gwrhyd, a mountain north of Pontardawe.

The site is part of a huge swathe of mountain land, stretching from there to Port Talbot, earmarked by the Assembly as suitable for wind turbines.

The massive show of strength is a blow to those in favour of the turbines, including Leader of the House of Commons, Peter Hain.

Neath Port Talbot Council planning officers have recommended that the plans put forward by Awel Aman Tawe are rejected, although the applicant has asked for a decision to be deferred.

A council planning officer's report on the site said it was located in open countryside in an elevated position and that the size and scale of the turbines would dominate the landscape when viewed from Tai'rgwaith and Gwaun-cae-Gurwen. The impact on residential properties, particularly in King Edward Road and Llwyncelyn Road, Tai'rgwaith, would be visually overbearing, said the officer's report.

A decision is due on the project when councillors meet on Tuesday but anti-wind farm campaigners are cautious about celebrating victory until the decision is made.

Tai'rgwaith action committee coordinator Terry Howells said: "I don't want to count our chickens before they are hatched.

"We would rather wait until it is actually rejected."

Campaigner Mal Davies said: "I'm totally against wind power schemes because it has been proven that they do very little against carbon dioxide emissions. They won't do anything to stop global warming."

Awel Aman Tawe said the project would supply enough energy to meet the average needs of more than 8,600 homes.

The wind farm would have a life expectancy of 25 years and could create 40 jobs, according to the applicants.

Project manager Dan McCallum said: "We have asked for a deferral of our planning application from Neath Port Talbot Council in order that we can provide more information on visual impact issues.

"It is encouraging that on all other grounds, the wind farm has been accepted and that it has had such broad support from the other statutory consultees."

He said all profits from the wind farm would go into local regeneration projects such as creches, youth clubs, education and further renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

Awel Aman Tawe held a referendum in March 2001 on whether people were in favour of the wind farm. Almost 50 per cent took part and Awel Aman Tawe claims a clear majority were in support.

"We consider that the positives outweigh the negatives," added Mr McCallum.

But campaigner James Morris, of Gwaun-cae-Gurwen, said: "Over 1,000 people objecting is a significant amount. They have to turn down this plan. They have to listen to people."

If Neath Port Talbot Council rejects the wind farm plan the way is open to Awel Aman Tawe to appeal to the Assembly.

One campaigner against the plans, Ellyn Harries, of Ammanford, feels so strongly that she has vowed to "lie down in the road in front of the diggers and die for my mountain", were the scheme to be approved.

pc

[grupo] 23/2/2005 08:25

PARIS (AFX) - Total SA, Electricite de France and Total Energie, a joint
venture in which Total and EDF both own a 35 pct stake, have won a 21.2 mln eur
order from Morocco's Temasol for a rural solar electricity programme.
The plan calls for the installation of solar panel and battery systems for
37,000 households, with completion expected by the end of 2007.
[e-mail]
js/jfr

[ariane] 17/2/2005 15:43

LONDON, February 17 (newratings.com) – Analyst Theo Kitz of Merck Finck & Co maintains his "buy" rating on Solarworld (ticker: SWV), while raising his estimates for the company. The target price has been raised from €90 to €100.

In a research note published this morning, the analysts mention that the company has raised its share capital by 10%. The earnings dilution from the capital raise would be more than offset by the benefits from Solarworld's recent license agreement with Suntech Power in China, the analyst says. The company would invest the proceeds from the recent capital raise in capacity expansion initiatives, Merck Finck & Co adds. The EPS estimates for 2005 and 2006 have been raised from €3.14 to €3.34 and from €4.28 to €4.71, respectively.