Tratfor: Strategic Planning Information - Strategic-Planning

With crude oil prices hitting new all time highs, solar power clearly has the momentum and is helping bring about a transformational shift in corporate energy usage.

Solar’s rapid expansion on the corporate energy efficiency front is good news for companies in the solar food chain – ranging from producers of polysilicon, to the manufacturers of solar cells, to the service firms that install solar systems.

Moreover, this year solar energy may get an additional boost, since U.S. lawmakers appear likely to pass the extension of a key solar-industry tax credit. The bill, if passed, would extend the 30% commercial tax credit by eight years and the residential credit by one year and would remove a $2,000 cap on residential systems. Importantly, utilities would be able to take advantage of the credit for the first time.

According to Levine, the companies best positioned to ride this solar wave are major photovoltaics manufacturers like First Solar (FSLR), SunPower Corp. (SPWR) and Suntech Power Holdings (STP) – each of whom are leading the solar industry ever closer to the “Holy Grail” of grid parity, thereby driving demand in the corporate, utilities and home markets.

Along with solar power, there is another standout in the corporate race towards greater energy efficiency.

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