Solar Power Stocks Advance in Hong Kong as China Announces New Subsidies
By John Duce - Dec 3, 2010 9:23 AM GMT+0100
Solargiga Energy Holdings Ltd. led solar power shares higher in Hong Kong trading after the Chinese government said it would introduce new subsidies to further stimulate use of the cleaner form of energy.
Solar-cell parts maker Solargiga rose as much as 15 percent, the most since July 21. The shares closed 8.5 percent higher at HK$1.91, beating the 0.6 percent decline in the benchmark Hang Seng index. GCL-Poly Poly Energy Holdings Ltd., China’s biggest producer of polysilicon, used in solar cells, gained 2.4 percent. China Solar Energy Holdings Ltd. advanced 3.2 percent.
The government measures came as officials from China and the U.S. meet in Cancun, Mexico, for the latest round of United Nations-led talks aimed at curbing global warming. China will subsidize half of the bidding contract prices for key solar equipment and create 13 industry zones as models for solar- energy applications, Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.
“These subsidies don’t seem to be huge, but they’ve been viewed as positive news by the market,” Dennis Lam, an analyst at DBS Vickers Hong Kong Ltd., said by telephone. “In the past few weeks solar stocks have been overlooked in Hong Kong, and this news has shined the spotlight on them once again.”
China is seeking to expand its capacity of sunlight-driven generation by more than 60-fold to 20,000 megawatts by 2020 to rely less on coal and oil. About 80 percent of the nation’s power plants currently run on coal.