Alternative Energy: The Morning Feedstock

• Shenzhen Topray Solar hit the ground running on its debut at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange this morning. The solar company’s initial public offer price was pegged at RMB 10.79, but it opened the day at RMB 51.20, hitting a high of RMB 57.00 in intraday trading despite an analyst consensus of around RMB 45.00. Shenzhen Topray closed the day up 378 percent at RMB 51.62, netting the company nearly $60 million in its IPO. Shenzhen Topray is China’s first solar cell maker to list domestically. We’re still not quite convinced.
• Bloo Solar grabs a $100,000 NSF grant to continue its nanotech research. The company uses vertically-layered nano-scale bristles to increase solar cell surface area over 700 times. While Bloo is waiting until marriage to take venture funding, it plans on spending most of its NSF grant to develop a nano-scale hairbrush to keep its bristles full of volume and shine as it waits for potential suitors.
• All but confirming recent rumors, it looks like Tony Hayward will dump BP’s renewable energy programs. BP’s environmental group, which is valued between $5 billion and $7 billion, will be the first casualty as Hayward seeks to close the gap between his company and Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil, his chief competitors. Central to Hayward’s turnaround plan is a goal of producing 4.3 million barrels of per day by 2012. Barrels of monkeys, that is.
• State governments are exploiting a loophole in federal law, allowing them to buy flex fuel vehicles without buying the flex fuel. Under the 1992 Energy Policy Act, 75 percent of new state cars must be able to run on alternative fuels, though the act doesn’t require states to actually buy the alternative fuels that would run them. State governments have purchased more than 40,000 alternative fuel vehicles, though there are only 34 state flex fuel stations in 20 states. I guess there’s more than one bridge to nowhere.
• And finally today… only in Oregon.