In this effort, we have focused on the former peaks from the 2007 to 2008 glory days, if applicable. The run higher seems like a bubble, but you will see that the bubble of today is nothing compared to the bubble of 2007 and 2008, when energy and alternative energy were flying high.

24/7 Wall St. evaluated the likes of First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR), SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR), MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR), GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) and SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) in the stock coverage. We also wanted to highlight exchange traded fund (ETF) performance and historical data on the Guggenheim Solar (NYSEMKT: TAN) and PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy (NYSEMKT: PBW).

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) is the de facto solar leader, and its shares have done what seemed nearly impossible just a few months ago. This stock went from less than $30 from late in 2006 after its initial public offering (IPO) to more than $300 in mid-2008 at the peak of the energy craze. Then came the “heads I win, tails you lose” trading, in which First Solar lost literally half of its value from July 2008 to December 2008. By June 0f 2012, First Solar shares were at a low even under $12, and the stock closed out 2012 at $30.86. Now we have shares up around $56, implying year-to-date gains of 81% and gains from last June’s lows of nearly 400%.

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) remains a miracle recovery, but we question why on earth Total S.A. (NYSE: TOT) has not acquired the rest of the company when the stock was less than $5. It is the largest holder by far, and it could have taken this outfit over on the cheap. This stock trades around $21.60, after a drop of more than 4% on Tuesday, but shares hit a high of $23.76. SunPower shares peaked at more than $100 in 2007 and again in 2008.

MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR) has been the less-followed winner for its solar materials making, but its rise has been massive as well. After hitting a low of $1.44 in the past year, the stock closed out 2012 at $3.21. With shares around $6.70 now, this is a gain of close to 400% from the lows, and a gain of more than 100% so far in 2013. Keep in mind that MEMC peaked at $96 in late 2007, and this was a $17 stock by the end of 2008.

GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) shares are back up to $4.60, but we would caution that this one came public as one of the last solar players out there in late 2008. It makes equipment for solar panel makers and providers, and it does not fit the same historic pattern as it missed much of the 2007 and 2008 silliness. This stock is up 75% from its low of $2.61 from March 4, 2013. GT is also up just over 50% from its closing price of $3.03 in 2012.

If you want to see just how fast a good thing can come to a crashing end … SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) is supposed to be the new kid on the block, and its shares hit a new all-time high of $52.77 just on Monday. After a double-digit drop, this one is back to $45. Do not feel too bad for those shareholders because, even after this last sudden drop, we have this 2012 IPO up a whopping 275% or so year-to-date from the $11.93 close for 2012.

The Guggenheim Solar (NYSEMKT: TAN) ETF is solar-focused and is still up 1.9% at $26.04 so far on Tuesday, but that is down from a high of $27.87 earlier in the day and up from a 52-week low of $12.60. Even after pulling back from the highs, this ETF is up a whopping 64% year-to-date from the closing price of $15.64 at the end of 2012. Trading volume has been elevated, and even exponentially higher of late. A reverse split has clouded the comparisons back to 2008 when this ETF was created.

There is also the PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy (NYSEMKT: PBW) ETF, which has a more diversified angle of alternative energy, cleaner energy and conservation, rather than just being solar. This one just hit a new high of $5.87 for the year and shares are up less than 1% at $5.67 as of last look. Even after the pullback, this is up almost 38% year-to-date from the $4.08 close at the end of 2012. Keep in mind that this ETF was above $28 at the peak back to late 2007 and in 2008, but by the end of 2008 it back to less than $10 per share.

If this sounds as though we have the pom-poms out cheering on the solar rally, we actually want investors to consider the risks more than just chasing the gainers. Our first point to make is that when you see articles of this magnitude cheering a great recovery, then perhaps the easy money has already been made. If you want proof of how volatile and wild price moves are expected, an at the money straddle or spread using the June-2013 $55 strike prices in puts and calls would cost you about $8.25 if you tally up both prices. That implies that the stock would have to rise to above $63 or fall to under $47 before the bets pay off.

The solar sector moves have been impressive. Make that more than impressive. The problem is that we are in a different valuation world now compared to the bubbles of the past. The partial austerity-driven, tax-credit-expiration world we live in now and the tariffs (trade wars) have changed the landscape to the point that it seems almost incomprehensible that the old bubble days of 2007 and 2008 could return. Some of these companies will continue to go on to do great things in the years ahead. Other solar players may fade into the history books, even after we have seen many bankruptcies in this sector.

Some longer term questions remain. Will solar companies get to form master limited partnerships? Will they become utilities? Is a market cap of almost $5 billion for First Solar crazy, or is it cheap compared to 2007 and 2008? Is Solar City’s $3.5 billion market cap valuing it as the utility of the future? Is much of the volume being driven by short covering? Or is the volume being driven by ETFs influencing the sector?

Today’s gain has a dual boost for the water utility giant. It is a 12% actual hike in the dividend on the surface. What matters more than that just the percentage hike is that the dividend yield is rising from 2.40% to 2.69%. American Water’s dividend practice is said to link common stock dividend increases to earnings per share growth. The water utility giant also is said to be targeting a payout ratio between 50% and 60% of net income.

The company is representing that its annualized earnings have increased by 14% from 2010 to 2012 on a compounded basis. Thomson Reuters calculates earnings estimates on a pro forma basis, and the earnings growth for 2013 is projected to be 3.75% and then 7.2% for 2014.

On a normalized earnings basis, the dividend hike today would represent almost 51% of an income payout ratio for 2013. American Water Works trades at a market premium at almost 19 times 2013 earnings and about 17.5 times expected 2014 earnings. We continue to believe that increasingly higher highs will be seen in water stocks. Today’s dividend hike is just one of the reasons.

The increased dividend will be payable on June 3, 2013, to all shareholders of record as of May 24, 2013. Shares are currently down by 0.5%, at $41.65 against a 52-week trading range of $32.75 to $42.53.

SunPower issued earnings of $0.22 per share versus a $0.10 estimate and sales were down almost 1% to $575 million. That drop may sound bad, but the expectations were only about $510 million. What is also interesting here at a time that solar companies are having a hard time is that GAAP gross margin was 9.3% versus 9.2% a year ago, and non-GAAP gross margin was 22.7% versus 12.7% a year ago.

The company claims that its results are from its superior solar panel technology combined with strong performance from rooftop and ground mount solar operations. SunPower also said that it has started initial construction of the 579-megawatt Antelope Valley Solar Projects for MidAmerican Solar and reached 90% completion on the California Valley Solar Ranch project owned by NRG Energy.

What will be a driving force here for the solar sector is that SunPower also claims that demand in the residential lease business remains solid and has again exceeded its expectations. SunPower shares gained a whopping 17% to $15.29 today. The stock hit a new 52-week high and its new 52-week range is $3.71 to $15.46.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) rose late in the day, but it closed up only 1.35% at $46.40. if you will recall, First Solar blew away its earnings guidance as well.

SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) should have done well based upon the commentary, but a Goldman Sachs downgrade from this morning kept pressure there for it to close down 3.25% at $27.09. Equipment maker GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) was also lower on the day after cutting its at-risk order backlog from expectations. Shares did close down almost 5% at $3.67 today, but its shares were down around $3.54 before the SunPower news came out.

A late day pop was seen in the Guggenheim Solar (NYSEMKT: TAN) ETF and it closed up 2.2% at $20.39 on the day. Even the more diverse PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy (NYSEMKT: PBW) ETF saw a late day surge and it closed up 2.5% at $4.80.

As First Solar surged so much in one day, we cannot help but assume that many investors and traders are going to be looking for which ETFs and other pools of investments that they may have missed. Some will look for short sales and some will look for buying opportunities. That being said, First Solar shares lifted just about anything and everything tied to solar and alternative energy in the realm of ETFs and related shares.

First Solar shares closed up 45% at $39.35 and the stock hit a new 52-week high of $41.00 on Tuesday. The trading volume of 39.7 million shares had to be aided by short sellers covering their bad bets and grabbing their throats. That 39 million shares is a near-term record in trading volume. With that much trading volume in one day, you can imagine that the solar bulls and the solar bears are going to be out fighting for blood for the rest of this week.

We have identified the top alternative energy and solar ETFs for investors. So that you would not get tricked into reading a name alone, we also included a brief description to show which are solar-only and which ones include foreign issues.

Market Vectors Global Alternative Energy ETF (NYSEMKT: GEX) run by Van Eck aims to track the overall performance of a global universe of listed companies engaged in the alternative energy industry. It has only $50 million in assets and First Solar has only 3.34% of the assets and is ranked as the number 12 position. It is still the largest solar stock in the ETF and the ETF has many solar players behind it. This has very thin volume and is up 3.3% on the day, and we would point out that many stocks are NOT US-listed shares.

Guggenheim Solar (NYSEMKT: TAN) is a pure-play ETF for solar run by Guggenheim and it has many non-US listed stocks. First Solar is the largest weighting here with 14.5% of the fund’s $57 million in assets under management. With a weighting this high, which likely going to be understated if prices remain static, the ETF was up 15% at $18.15 right before the closing bell.

The iShares S&P Global Clean Energy Index (NASDAQ: ICLN) under BlackRock has only about $27 million in assets and is thinly traded. First Solar ranks as number-9 in the portfolio with a 4.88% weight in the fund. This iShares ETF has many foreign issues as well and was up 5.7% at $7.74 late in the day on thin volume.

Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF (NYSEMKT: KWT) is also run by Van Eck but just tracks solar stocks and has thin trading volume with only about $11 million in assets. First Solar leads this ETF with a 9.6% weighting. That alone helped it trade up 12.5% to $40.54 on the day.

There is also the PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy (NYSEMKT: PBW) which was up 4.5% at $4.44 late in the day, but this is under Invesco PowerShares. The ETF is composed of companies that focus on greener and generally renewable sources of energy and technologies facilitating cleaner energy. First Solar is ranked all the way down at #17 in weightings at only 2.63% but the ETF aims to keep exposure of these global players at 3% or so max. At least it traded 800,000 shares or so shortly before the close.

First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index (NASDAQ: QCLN) has thin trading volume with only about $25 million in assets under the fund but shares were up 4% at $11.26 right before the closing bell. First Solar ranks only as #7 in weighting with 4.13% of the total fund, but it is the largest solar stock in the fund.

The firm’s Dan Eggers said that the integrated power sector looks set up for a positive change in numbers on first-quarter earnings calls. This represents a reversal in falling power prices, and likely estimates that have worked against the stocks for the past six quarters or so.

Eggers did note:

We still think implied valuations for Generation assets are rich, but can see how a change in trend could capture broader market interest and provide for an upward trade into and around earnings results as the Street raises mark-to-market based estimates.

Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC) is said by the firm to offer the greatest leverage to estimate revisions, and it also should benefit from quarterly improvements in ExGen open profit disclosures. The firm only has a neutral rating and a $33 target. Entergy Corp. (NYSE: ETR) was maintained Neutral. Elsewhere …

American Electric Power Co. (NYSE: AEP) is maintained as Outperform, and the target was raised to $52 from $50, along with higher estimates.

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) was maintained as Outperform but the target price was cut to $45 from $46, and earnings estimates were trimmed by about 1%.

Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (NYSE: PEG) was maintained as Underperform and the target was less than the share price. But that target price was raised to $42 from $29.50, and its earnings estimates were raised slightly as well.

While housing construction added more than 17,000 jobs in February, one surprise boost came from some 20,800 jobs added in the motion picture and sound recording industries. Those $12 movie tickets must help a lot. Another 16,000 of the added payrolls came from temporary help services. The one figure that stood out above and beyond any rational explanation was that the good old U.S. Postal Service somehow added about 4,500 more workers.

The U.S. Postal Service continues to lose money as it is bleeding cash to keep paying retiree pensions and benefits. So can someone please manage to explain how the USPS added jobs at a time that Saturdays are being dumped for delivery days? The USPS had some 603,100 workers in January and somehow rose to 607,600 workers on a seasonally adjusted basis in February. A gain of 4,500 jobs might not sound like much to a government pencil pusher, but it sure does to those of us taxpayers who do not really believe that taxpayers aren’t ultimately on the hook for the ”independently funded” Postal Service.

While the USPS reported a quarterly loss of $1.3 billion back in early February, the one area of growth was a 4.7% growth in Shipping and Packaging. No wonder the Postal Service is going to continue package deliveries on Saturdays. First class mail continued to decline and the Postal Service’s effort to cut first class mail delivery on Saturdays may save as much as $2 billion. So, this begs a couple questions. Does the Post Office need more workers to handle more and more catalog mailings or junk mail? Didn’t all the partisan mail-outs for donations end in November as well?

The USPS loss announcement in February also said that the first quarter is traditionally the Postal Service’s strongest financial quarter due to the holiday mailing and shipping season. Maybe that explains the hirings with a lag of some sort. The problem there is that the first quarter is actually the fourth calendar quarter and it ends on December 31 and the added payrolls were for February.

Needless to say, we wanted an answer of how the payrolls at the USPS grew by 4,500 people in February. So, we placed two calls to spokespeople and are awaiting an answer about how the 4,500 jobs were added. We did speak with two USPS contacts on Friday, but so far the explanation remains unanswered. If we get a response we will update this article.

This situation is one true head-scratcher at a time that budgets are supposedly tightening up. As we have no way to know what the boost is from until an answer is offered up, we chose a theoretical $30,000 per year for each of these 4,500 positions knowing that it may be higher. That comes to an extra $135 million per year from a group that is losing money. This $135 million figure may even be much higher when you consider insurance, pensions, and other benefits. It also does not include the added expenses that come with each new hire.

Saving a theoretical $135 million here and there is not going to save the Postal Service, and it is not going to save the out-of-control deficit spending that Washington D.C. is addicted to. That being said, a few hundred or a thousand instances of this sort of savings is what it will take to get government spending in line with real budgeting. Of course, the government hasn’t operated on a budget for years now.

The sales gain was said to be primarily due to increased revenue recognition for the Topaz project and from higher third-party module sales. Cash and Marketable Securities at the end of 2012 came to $1 billion and its cash flow from operations was $328 million in the fourth quarter.

First Solar gave guidance for sales of $650 to $750 million with 25% to 27% gross margin, and earnings were put in a range of $0.70 to $0.90 per share. The estimates from Thomson Reuters are $828.9 million in sales and $0.94 per share in earnings. Other guidance is as follows: OPEX of $90 to $100 million; Operating income of $70 to $100 million; Tax rate between 11% and 13%; Cash flow from Operations of $0 to $100 million; and CAPEX of $80 to $100 million.

Shares of First Solar ran up way too much since the election with gains of 50% before backing off of late. The stock was down 4.2% to $31.36 at the close and the after-hours reaction has shares down over 5% more at $29.55 against a 52-week range of $11.43 to $37.18. The Thomson Reuters consensus price target before the effect of earnings and guidance was $26.45 for First Solar shares.

Solar stocks already saw their great growth and stocks are now a mere fraction of their former highs. It is going to be very difficult for these companies to sell themselves as cheap value stocks.

This year has seen a great start for stocks, and many of the go-to water stocks are at or challenging new 52-week (or all-time) highs. Our focus is on the actual water owners rather than just the water technology and equipment makers for water companies and water utilities. It is amazing that just about this entire group is either right at 52-week or all-time highs or are close.

American Water Works Company Inc. (NYSE: AWK) is the king of all water stocks as the largest public water utility owner in America. It is now worth almost $7 billion, and with shares are $39.15 it is back within striking distance of a new all-time high as the 52-week range is $32.75 to $39.38. This also pays a 2.6% dividend yield to its common holders.

American States Water Co. (NYSE: AWR) is now within literally a few million dollars of being worth $1 billion. This company is geographically centric to California as it serves 75 communities in 10 counties in California. Shares crossed above the prior 52-week highs on Friday and again on Monday, with a new high of $52.08 against a prior 52-week range of $34.90 to $52.03. The dividend yield here is about 2.7%.

Aqua America Inc. (NYSE: WTR) is another regulated water utility, and its shares matched the prior 52-week high put in on Friday, and the new 52-week range is $21.52 to $28.70. This one is worth $4 billion and serves customers in customers in Pennsylvania, Texas, North Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Florida, Indiana, Virginia, Maine and Georgia. The dividend yield is now 2.4% since its shares have risen.

California Water Service Group (NYSE: CWT) is within about 2% of the 52-week high of $19.87, but still 10% from the prior highs of about $22 from 2006 to 2008. The company serves approximately 2 million people in California, Washington, New Mexico and Hawaii communities. This one is small at an $820 million market capitalization, and it has a dividend yield of about 3.3%.

One exception to the 52-week high challenge is Connecticut Water Service Inc. (NASDAQ: CTWS). Many will have never heard of it as it serves only about 55 communities in Connecticut (90,000 customers, which is about 300,000 people). Trading at $29.54, its 52-week range is $26.69 to $32.31. It also has a smaller market value of only $260 million, but it yields above-average at 3.3% for its common holders.

Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: CWCO) is even smaller and it is based in Cayman. Shares still hit a 52-week high of $9.34 on Monday, against its prior 52-week range of $6.70 to $9.30. The market cap here is a mere $135 million, and it also yields some 3.3%.

Middlesex Water Co. (NASDAQ: MSEX) is worth only about $307 million. With shares at $19.85, it is within 1% of going above the 52-week range of $17.48 to $20.06. Volume is very small here but it offers a 3.8% dividend yield. It provides service to approximately 150,000 customers, with a population of approximately 303,000 in central New Jersey through its contract sales. Its main operations are New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania.

The York Water Co. (NASDAQ: YORW) just matched its 52-week of $19.05 on Monday against a 52-week low of $16.75. With a market cap of only $245 million, the dividend yield is about 2.9%. York Water specifically serves about 43 municipalities located in the York and Adams County area in Pennsylvania.

PowerShares Water Resources (NYSEMKT: PHO) is a water exchange traded fund, but we would note that it and other water ETF products tend to be more focused around the water technology and equipment makers. That being said, this ETF hit a high of $22.29 on Monday, against a prior 52-week range of $16.90 to $22.33.

What draws investors to water is the same thing that has drawn them for years and years: water is THE ultimate commodity. Americans in general have no clue how this precious commodity is abundant at home but scarce or in controlled supplies elsewhere. The drought conditions may have improved the understanding of how water scarcity works, but many would argue that America is still oblivious to this trend.

Investing in water is appropriate for just about all types of investors. All of the utilities pay a decent dividend or a high dividend, and all have proven to offer some defensive characteristics and growth characteristics for investors through time.

If the only — or at least the main — reason to own stock in utilities is to earn a steady flow of dividend income, Exelon’s cut is a bad sign for dividend investors. The problems, of course, are warmer or more severe weather (over which the company has no control), lower demand for electricity (over which the company has no control), tighter regulation of emissions (over which the company has very little control), higher operating expenses (mainly due to storm damage) and higher depreciation and amortization expenses due to added capital spending. That last item is the one that could cause other utilities to take the same path as Exelon.

Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) said yesterday that it would close a nuclear power plant in Florida rather than pay to upgrade and recommission the plant. Last year Dominion Resources Inc. (NYSE: D) shut down a nuclear plant in Wisconsin, and another four nukes could follow this year. It is more cost effective to build a new natural gas-fired plant than it is to keep a nuke running or certainly to build a new one. Exelon, with its acquisition last year of Constellation Energy, produces 55% of its electricity from nuclear-powered plants.

Coal is not faring too well either. A survey by Bloomberg shows that the all-in cost of coal-fired generation is about $50 per megawatt-hour higher than the cost of natural gas-fired generation. That is all down to fuel costs and right now there is nothing cheaper than natural gas. How long that will last is debatable, but Duke is banking on it. The company plans to replace the Florida nuke and two coal-fired plants with natural gas generation over the next few years.

American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP) and Southern Co. (NYSE: SO) still depend heavily on coal-fired generation although AEP is building natural gas plants and Southern is working on a coal-gasification plant, and even planning on a new nuclear plant in Georgia. Neither company chooses to rely on continuing low natural gas prices and face a 2015 deadline for either bringing coal plants into compliance with new regulations or closing them.

The impact on dividends follows both from energy consumption and the changes in fuel. Before today, Exelon’s dividend yield was 6.8%. That will fall to about 4.1% next quarter, which is lower than Duke’s 4.4%, AEP’s 4.2% and Southern’s 4.5%, and equal to Dominion’s 4.1%. These are still pretty lofty yields, but the combination of forces that led Exelon to drop its dividend exerts a similar power over the other power generation companies.

Exelon’s share price is up 2% this morning, at $31.60 in a 52-week range of $28.40 to $40.31.

Citigroup is launching an ambitious global solar sector research team that will have analysts in the United States, Europe and Asia. While the near-term picture for the industry and the sector remains price driven and very volatile, in the longer term the analysts see every reason to remain positive. The sector will continue to exhibit growth, driven by underlying economics and fuel diversity, with legislatively driven spending still present but taking more of a back seat.

The solar research team at Citigroup started four solar stocks with Buy ratings, two at Neutral and one with a dubious Sell rating. We are seeing real gains on this on the select names. The stocks started with Buy ratings are:

Sunpower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) is not only their top-rated stock but it is added to the U.S. High Conviction Buy list (top picks live). The target price is $12, though the consensus Wall St. estimate is only $5.50, which is less than current trading levels. Sunpower is up almost 5% today at $8.40.

MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR), a former high flyer, has a price target at Citigroup of $5.40. The consensus estimate is at $4.00. Surprisingly, this battered solar (and chip) wafer-maker is up only 1%.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) is yet another former high flying solar stock, and the Citigroup price target is $41, while the Thomson/First call estimate is at $24.00. Shares are up more than 4% and back above $30 so far.

Advanced Energy Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: AEIS) was given a price target of $20, and that is substantially higher than the consensus of $13.50. This one is up almost 4.5% at $16.60 on the news.

Citigroup rates Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd (NYSE: YGE) at Neutral.

Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) was initiated with the Sell rating. Its shares are getting hit with a drop of more than 3% to $1.53 so far today.

One of the main thesis points for the Citigroup team is that while solar may have reached socket parity in many global regions at the residential level (socket parity refers to solar panels offering cheaper electricity than power from the grid), utility scale parity is expected to advance over the next few years. Besides pure economics, the need for utilities to diversify their fuel mix is crucial to insulating them from volatility and the likely upward movement in gas prices over the longer term, a need that was well-documented as they surveyed electric utilities in the United States. Indeed some are already choosing to build solar farms instead of gas super-peaking plants based on pure economics. Overall, they continue to view solar and gas as complementary rather than mutually exclusive generation sources.

Classifying the solar industry is a difficult task, as it displays characteristics of both a high-tech growth industry, as well as a traditional cyclical industry. Understanding the interplay between these two dynamics is the key to investing in the sector, particularly from a timing perspective. Historically, much of the growth has been attributed to legislative mandates driving solar spending — this is set to change. That is particularly the case with U.S. politicians having a very bad taste in their mouths after the Obama administration’s green energy stimulus program failures like Solyndra and Abound Solar. Growth will now be driven by economics and fuel diversity moving forward.

Many of the U.S. utilities the Citigroup team surveyed have highlighted the need to diversify into other generation sources. It is well understood that natural gas prices will not stay depressed forever. So besides pure economics, from a utility perspective, the need to diversify is crucial to remove the volatility and eventual upward movement in gas prices over the longer term. It is also important to remember that many U.S. utility companies are at a point where they are upgrading and changing their infrastructure. If solar becomes a solid choice for power generation, the sheer size of the utility industry in the United States and around the globe could reignite growth.

The solar landscape may slowly be changing, and the fact that the utility industry views solar as a viable alternative generation source is a powerful growth angle. While the high volatility associated with the industry and its pricing may very well keep a lid on a return to over exuberance, the obvious need for less polluting fuel sources may very well propel solar back into the spotlight. The question from investors will still be: “Is it different this time?”