THE GAINERS

Solarfun Power Holdings CO., Ltd. (MM) NASDAQ:SOLF Solar 23.98%
China Sunergy CO., Ltd. ADS (MM) NASDAQ:CSUN Solar 13.35%
Distributed Energy Systems (MM) NASDAQ:DESC FuelCells 10.00%
Wind Hydgn Fpo ASX:WHN DiversifiedAltE 10.00%
Renesola LSE:SOLA Solar 9.20%
Daystar Technologies (MM) NASDAQ:DSTI Solar 8.31%
Hydrogenics Corp Com Npv TSE:HYG FuelCells 8.05%
Hoku Scientific (MM) NASDAQ:HOKU FuelCells 7.81%
Novozymes B OMX:NZYM-B Bioethanol 6.61%
Roth + Rau O.N. XE:R8R Solar 6.57%

THE GAINERS

Millennium Cell Inc. (MM) NASDAQ:MCEL FuelCells 152.41%
Torrens EN Fpo ASX:TEY Geothermal 14.29%
ECODIESEL ON NM BOV:ECOD3 Biodiesel 12.46%
Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings NYSE:AVR Bioethanol 11.50%
Xethanol Corp. AMEX:XNL Bioethanol 11.11%
Satcon Technology (MM) NASDAQ:SATC DiversifiedAltE 10.53%
Chongqing Three GO 'a'cny1 SHX:600116 Hydro 9.98%
Electro Energy Inc. (MM) NASDAQ:EEEI EnergyStorage 9.68%
Jackgreen Fpo ASX:JGL DiversifiedAltE 9.09%
China Sunergy CO., Ltd. ADS (MM) NASDAQ:CSUN Solar 8.82%
Ocean Pwr Di LSE:OPT Wave 7.69%

THE GAINERS

Millennium Cell Inc. (MM) NASDAQ:MCEL FuelCells 37.61%
Powerfilm Regs LSE:PFLM Solar 26.54%
Renova LSE:RVA Bioethanol 17.39%
Renesola LSE:SOLA Solar 17.29%
Hydrogenics Corp Com Npv TSE:HYG FuelCells 15.28%
Jackgreen Fpo ASX:JGL DiversifiedAltE 13.40%
Spire (MM) NASDAQ:SPIR Solar 12.14%
Yingli Grn Engy Adr NYSE:YGE Solar 11.71%

THE GAINERS

Uqm Technologies, AMEX:UQM FuelCells 23.19%
Powerfilm Regs LSE:PFLM Solar 20.90%
Quant Ene Fpo ASX:QTM HeatPumps 20.00%
Canadian Solar Inc. - Common Shares (MM) NASDAQ:CSIQ Solar 19.03%
Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide (MM) NASDAQ:QTWW FuelCells 15.20%
Daystar Technologies (MM) NASDAQ:DSTI Solar 11.39%
Solco Ltd Fpo ASX:SOO Solar 9.38%
Wind Hydgn Fpo ASX:WHN DiversifiedAltE 8.89%
China Sunergy CO., Ltd. ADS (MM) NASDAQ:CSUN Solar 8.85%

A lot of excitement over the last couple of days on JA Solar - as picked up on this post by Motley Fool. JA Solar stands out because;

i) it's making more profits than anticipated
ii) it has done well to secure adequate supplies of polysilicon
iii) it is a relatively low-tech, easily understandable solar play - based in China

Anyway, I'm always struck by how little of a following there is in the anglosphere of stocks not listed in English-speaking markets. A case in point has to be solar stocks, most of which tend to be listed in Germany, the world's leading market for the industry. Yet there's next to no discussion of them outside of the super niche world of globally thinking alternative energy investors. In the ideal future - and I think it will come - the transaction and bureaucratic cost of buying or selling a stock anywhere in the world will be near identical and close to zero. But we're not there yet. That's why I'm launching our first solar stocks screener - just click on the link here.

It shows all solar stocks listed on North American (i.e. USA and Canada) and the London Stock Exchange of which there are 25. It's also got the 10 latest stories on solar stocks for you to pick up. And it will refresh every minute automatically.

THE GAINERS

Carmanah Techs Cor Com Npv TSE:CMH Solar 16.30%
Uqm Technologies, AMEX:UQM FuelCells 12.50%
Western Wind Energy Corp (Tier2) TSX:WND Wind 10.55%
Dyesol Ltd Fpo ASX:DYE Solar 9.83%
Geo Res Fpo ASX:GHT Geothermal 9.49%
Ausbiodesl Fpo ASX:ABJ Biodiesel 8.33%
Energy Conversion Devices (MM) NASDAQ:ENER Solar 8.13%
Verasun Energy Corp NYSE:VSE Bioethanol 7.93%
Renesola LSE:SOLA Solar 7.19%

THE GAINERS

Quant Ene Fpo ASX:QTM HeatPumps 42.86%
Western Wind Energy Corp (Tier2) TSX:WND Wind 12.28%
Nova Biosource Fuels, AMEX:NBF Biodiesel 7.96%
JA Solar Holdings, CO., Ltd. - Ads (MM) NASDAQ:JASO Solar 7.78%
Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide (MM) NASDAQ:QTWW FuelCells 7.56%
Ldk Solar CO Adr NYSE:LDK Solar 5.83%
Verbio Ver.Bioenergie On XE:VBK Biodiesel 5.17%
Uqm Technologies, AMEX:UQM FuelCells 5.14%
Solarfun Power Holdings CO., Ltd. (MM) NASDAQ:SOLF Solar 4.95%
Carmanah Techs Cor Com Npv TSE:CMH Solar 4.55%

The dance of the utilities around alternative energy continues . . .

Energias de Portugal - a portuguese utility with substantial renewable assets, is considering floating those same assets an IPO which some analysts reckon could be worth 8.9 to 11 billion euros. It's funny how that kind of size doesn't even seem like such a big deal these days. A few years ago, when I started looking at alternative energy stocks, the largest at just about $1 billion market cap. was New Zealand's Trustpower. What's interesting here is that EDP are looking at floating only 20-25% of the unit. That tells us that they see this market as having a long way to go and they want to stay invested in it, if not raise that cash specifically for further renewable investments.

I think we're going to see a lot more action from the utilities in the renewable sector in the years to come and not only because they have the money. Utilities need to get their hands on renewable assets in order to meet rising targets for renewable energy, particularly in Europe, the United States Canada and Australia. So if you're a independent renewables firm, contemplating an IPO in testing market conditions, here's another idea; organise a private auction between cash rich national and regional utilities for the sale of your company. You might actually get more !

THE GAINERS

Energy Conversion Devices (MM) NASDAQ:ENER Solar 43.38%
Austrefuel Fpo ASX:ARW Biodiesel 17.78%
Vestas Wind Systems OMX:VWS Wind 12.03%
Daystar Technologies (MM) NASDAQ:DSTI Solar 12.00%
Eop Biodiesel O.N. XE:E2B Biodiesel 11.54%
Canadian Solar Inc. - Common Shares (MM) NASDAQ:CSIQ Solar 11.31%
Wind Hydgn Fpo ASX:WHN DiversifiedAltE 11.11%
Geo Res Fpo ASX:GHT Geothermal 10.29%
Solar-Fabrik AG O.N. XE:SFX Solar 9.99%

A very informative piece in the Asia Times today - Wind drifts out of Japan's green vision. It makes the point that although Japan wrote the book on integrating solar pv and hosted the Kyoto Treaty, there's next to no interest in integrating wind power into the National Grid, at any real scale.  Compared to the ambitious targets most European countries and different States in the US have set themselves, Japan's goal of 1.63% production of energy from renewables by 2014 looks smaller than a piece of sushi.

The reasons for this slow uptake of wind are;

i) Japan's regional utility monopolies are demanding that any windfarm is connected to energy storage at the developers cost - tripling the installed cost per megawatt for onshore wind.
ii) In the recent past, Japan's big companies have heavily invested in solar and would rather see that home-grown technology succeed

That has not stopped though, japanese companies like Mitsubishi Heavy Industries selling turbines abroad. Still, you'd think this does not augur well for Japan Wind Development - our one and only Japanese wind play. Or does it?

The stock has bucked the trend of recent months, doubling in value since last December. As reported here not so long ago on Bloombergs, they have actually gone some way to adding battery storage, by teaming up with battery manufacturer, NGK Insulators. NGK's sodium-sulfur units cost a reported 294 million yen ($2.9 million) per megawatt. That's expensive, but the yield from battery-stored  wind electricity triples the buyout price for the power.

Battery-stored electricity is definitely a trend to watch out for in the years to come.