Solar Stocks Higher as California Passes Two Solar-Energy Bills (SPWRA, FSLR, YGE, more)

October 12, 2009 12:37 PM EDT

Solar stocks are outperforming the broader averages today as traders are cheering news that California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, recently signed two solar-energy bills for the state. The Claymore/MAC Global Solar Index ETF (NYSE: TAN) is up more than 3% today, which compares to a 0.4% rise in the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 and a 0.6% jump in the Nasdaq.

As Bloomberg is reporting, the first bill forces utility companies to pay consumers for the excess power their solar panels generate for the grid, while the second bill extends a feed-in tariff which creates a 20-year contract between a utility and the respective solar installer to buy the output at certain set prices.

In an e-mailed statement, Schwarzenegger said, "Local economies will benefit from the creation of
thousands of new jobs while we continue to lay the groundwork for California to meet our renewable energy and environmental goals.”

In addition, proposals to raise the cap on net metering from 2.5% to 5% and to require utility companies to receive a third of their electricity from in-state renewable energy sources were both turned down.

Around the solar sector:

• SunPower (Nasdaq: SPWRA), California's largest supplier of solar energy, is up 3.2% to $32.50
  
• First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR), the world's largest marker of thin-film solar modules, is up 2.1% to $160.05
  
• Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE) up 3.7% to $13.64
  
• Suntech (NYSE: STP) up 3.5% to $16.09
  
• Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) up 2.7% to $35.37
  
• JA Solar (Nasdaq: JASO) up 4.5% to $4.19

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