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Gen-X

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  1. Raw material for photovoltaics: If you're following solar technology, then you may already know that solar panels raw materials are crystalline silicon and polysilicon. Semiconductors are also built from the same materials. So if solar power takes off there will be a rapid rise in demand for poly- and crystalline silicon, such companies to invest in are for example MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE: WFR). http://finance.google.com/finance?cid=658274 The share price of WFR has doubled twice in the last two years. So I'm interested in any views on where the demand for silicon might go in the next few years. Will producers meet demand, resulting in an easing of silicon prices? Or is there a bottleneck somewhere in the production process that will support another doubling or two? Are there other ways to profit from the race for silicon? Another interesting point is that Photovoltaics don't require semiconductor-grade silicon. So PV manufacturers have historically bought only the byproducts of the IC industry: those wafers that had to be rejected. But now PV demands are exceeding the supply of IC wafer rejects, so PVs are being made from IC-grade silicon, too.
  2. There is an interesting American company which combines solar concentration with stirling engines. http://www.stirlingenergy.com/default.asp
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