Enticingly named Ascent Solar, a maker of thin-film solar pv modules, said it expected to receive $21.6 million from the exercise of the warrants. The upshot of this was the stock soared over 15% on the 25th June, since when it has come off a little bit, dropping 5.36% yesterday.

Like several other thin film manufacturers, Ascent Solar believe they have the solution to lowering solar prices. Their techology uses a plastic film or substrate coated with thin-film PV. As this picture shows, it is flexible and light weight. But does that really matter?

Not for buildings, but very conceivably for flight. Like this solar-powered blimp made by
Lockheed Martin HAA. Lighter-than-air, solar-powered High-Altitude Airship is designed to hover for more than a year at 60,000 ft. A prototype is scheduled to go aloft in 2010.

Following a couple of IPOs over the last week, here they are;

PV Crystalox - a company in what I regard as the sweetspot of the solar business, a manufacturer of silicon ingots and wafers

and

Solaria Energia - a Spanish PV company, which disappointingly, only carries the Spanish language on its website. There has been a bit of a buzz about Spain becoming the next Germany in solar power - that's why several German firms were keen to open subsidiaries there over the last year or so. And yet, you have to think that a Spanish supplier ought to have more opportunity to exploit that over a German one. Let's see. A friend of mine incidentally with a large holiday home in Spain, was advised not to install solar pv panels, because they would be stolen. If that's really the case, the millions of holiday homes (800,000 built last year alone) there will not be a market and the growth will most likely have to be Spanish-led or more ways than one.

As promised a little while back, here they are;

China Sunergy - a Nanjing-based solar cell manufacturer which floated on May 18th and LDK Solar which went public a few days ago.

Is there no end to the Chinese Solar boom?

Here's a man who thinks a more general solar correction is in sight - J. Peter Lynch. As he wrote recently here . . .

"Back in September and October of 2006 all of the publicly traded solar stocks I follow regularly (15 in the U.S. and 12 in Germany) were just advancing through their 50 day moving averages. Currently, 12 of 15 (80%) of U.S. solar stocks are below their 50 day average and 9 of 12 (75%) of German stocks are below their 50 day average. This tells me that, more than likely, the solar sector is weakening and is potentially headed for a corrective phase".

Added to this, I think some of the stories we have been seeing lately about polysilicon oversupply bringing down prices as soon as 2010 are at least a little overplayed. There is still massive undersupply which may necessitate some consolidation in the industry - that just might play out after a mini solar crash as is anticipated by Lynch.