UPDATE: US Senate Passes Energy Tax Credit; Solars Jump in After-Hours Trading (FSLR, SPWR, SOLF)

September 23, 2008 11:10 PM EDT

Bloomberg reports that after eight prior attempts, the U.S. Senate today passed a $17 billion energy tax measure for solar, wind and other renewable energy projects. The measure extends current investment-tax credits through 2016 for solar, by one year for wind-power production, and by two years for other renewable sources such as geothermal. The measure also includes breaks for certain smart coal projects and refiners which process heavy oil.

One study by the Solar Energy Industries Association estimates that the break would create 441,000 permanent jobs and inject $232 billion in new spending by 2016 for solar companies like First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR), SunPower (Nasdaq: SPWR) and Suntech Power Holdings (NYSE: STP).

Investors are responding to the announcement in after-hours trading. Shares of First Solar are now trading around $219.84 after closing today's session at $210.89. SunPower is up 5% to $91.90 and Suntech is up 3.6% to $41.90. Elsewhere in the sector: LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) shares are currently about 4.3% higher, shares of Solarfun (Nasdaq: SOLF) are trading 4.4% higher, and Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) is 3.6% higher.

First Solar, Inc. designs and manufactures solar modules using a thin film semiconductor technology.

SunPower Corporation is a vertically integrated solar products and services company that designs, manufactures and markets high-performance solar electric power technologies.

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. is a solar energy company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets a variety of photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules.

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