Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (YGE) and its subsidiaries are engaged in the design, development, marketing, manufacturing, installation and sale of photovoltaic (PV) products in the People’s Republic of China and internationally. Its products include multicrystalline polysilicon ingots and wafers, PV cells, PV modules, and integrated PV systems that are connected to electricity transmission grids or those that operate on a stand-alone basis. With 400MW of total annual production capacity in each of the polysilicon ingots and wafers, PV cells and PV modules, YGE is currently one of the largest manufacturers of PV products in China.

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Since the New Bull began its charge on March 9, clean energy stocks have put together a mighty rally of their own, as they outpaced the US equities market as a whole. Savvy market observers believe that it reflects the benefits of being on the right side of political trends, thanks to initiatives from China, the United States and other countries. Three major indexes tracking green energy companies have risen sharply of late. The US -only Wilderhill Clean Energy Index, comprising 51 companies, is up 72% since the March 9 low. Its global counterpart, the Wilderhill New Energy Global Index, which tracks 88 companies in 21 countries, is up 66% in the same period. The CleanTech Index, which tracks a broader group, including industries like sustainable agriculture, is up 57%. By comparison, the S&P 500 is up 35% since hitting a 12-year low on March 9. The Green stocks are recovery mode have being hammered on demand concerns brought on by the drop in the price of Crude Oil and the credit freeze, the Wilderhill indexes plunged 70%, and the Cleantech Index 50 %, in 2008. The indexes are still off 2007 peaks.

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Ford Motor Co will receive nearly US$5.9B in US government loans to spur development of more fuel-efficient vehicles, the Obama administration said last Tuesday. Japan’s Nissan Motor Co Ltd will receive US$1.6B, and start-up Tesla Motors Inc will receive US$465B in advanced technology financing from the Energy Department program. “By supporting key technologies and sound business plans, we can jumpstart the production of fuel-efficient vehicles in America,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said at Ford headquarters. “These investments will come back to our country many times over by creating new jobs, reducing our dependence on oil, and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions,” he said. The agency plans additional loans over the next several months to automakers and suppliers. Chu said the administration began talks with Chrysler Group LLC on possible energy technology loans immediately after the company stepped out of bankruptcy protection this month. It is also having “technical” discussions with General Motors Corp, which is currently reorganizing in bankruptcy proceedings. Both companies applied for financing last year but their financial distress disqualified them from consideration in the first round of financing. The US$25B program is only open to viable (real) companies.

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The United States is making a serious effort to increase the amount of electricity that’s generated by wind turbines grouped into wind-power “farms.” Attempts to harness the wind are part of a broader national, and global, commitment to “green” energy sources as a way of reducing dependence on Crude Oil and other fossil fuels for power generation. i.e Natural Gas and Coal. Other power sources include solar, geothermal, hydroelectric and nuclear for commercial electricity production, while automakers are looking at new types of batteries and such innovations as power-storing “fuel cells” as alternatives to the conventional internal combustion engines that power most of the world’s cars and trucks. The objectives are twofold. By decreasing the US reliance on foreign Crude Oil, the country is hedging against the time when global supplies of the “black gold” begin to dry up, an eventuality that will propel the prices of crude and gasoline skyward. Diversifying away from Crude Oil and, perhaps, even coal is also a way of reversing, or slowing, environmentally ruinous global warming. US President Barack Obama is attempting to use the ongoing financial crisis to create a sense of urgency about America’s energy future, a challenge that no prior administration has yet been able to meet. About one-third of President Obama’s US$800B + stimulus package will go to infrastructure, with US$30B allocated for US roads and highways and another US$10B earmarked for railways and mass-transit systems. President Obama has also proposed spending US$150 B “over the next 10 yrs to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.” The administration also proposes to increase the amount of electricity that comes from renewable resources from 10% in 2012 to 25% by 2025 as reported in January 2008 in the WS-J.

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Global wind capacity grew by 29 % in 2008 with the United States surpassing Germany to become the world’s leading wind power generator, Worldwatch Institute said. The Washington-based research organization said last Thursday that global wind capacity rose by over 27,000 megawatts (MW), or enough to power around 27MM homes, to some 120,798 MW last year. Wind now provides 1.5 % of the world’s energy demand, up from 0.1 percent in 1997. US wind capacity increased by 50 % or 5,170 MW, or 21% of world capacity. In Europe, wind represented the leading source of new power capacity, with 8,877 MW installed in 2008. This was 28% more than new natural gas capacity and over 10 times more than new coal, Worldwatch said. Europe now generates 65,946 MW of wind power, or 55% of global capacity, Germany still leads the region, generating 23,903 MW of wind power, but it saw new installations drop slightly in 2008.

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With the world suffering through a major credit crunch, China has suddenly gone shopping. Beijing said last week that one of its big state-owned banks, China Development Bank, agreed to lend Petrobras, the Brazilian oil giant, US$10B in exchange for a long-term supply of Crude Oil. That investment came after similar deals were signed this week with Russia and Venezuela, bringing China’s total Crude Oil investments this month to US$41B.

This month, Aluminum Corp. of China, the largest Chinese aluminum producer, agreed to invest $19.5 billion in Rio Tinto of Australia, one of the world’s biggest mining companies. And on Monday, China Min metals bid US$1.7B to acquire Oz Minerals, a huge Australian zinc mining company. The new China is flush with cash and eager to take advantage of weak commodity prices, China is once again on the hunt for global energy and resources to power its growing economy. But this time, Chinese companies are being welcomed overseas. Analysts say that China will continue to make deals this year, for a variety of small oil and natural gas companies, mineral producers and mining companies.

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