Once-Mighty Suntech Struggles to Survive

will add further scrutiny," says Mark Bachman, an analyst at Avian Securities.

Suntech says the management shake-up will allow Shi to focus on strategy for navigating a turbulent market and to commercialize technology from its labs.  However, the management shuffle appears to be a setback for Shi, a solar industry visionary who started Suntech with $6 million in funding from the local government in Wuxi. A former research scientist in Australia, his technical credentials and the company's focus on innovation helped set Suntech apart from other Chinese solar companies.

Shi seemed to be financially shrewd as well. Suntech went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2005, which gave the Chinese upstart more validity in the eyes of investors and solar project financiers. But now being a public company listed in the United States comes with added disclosure burdens and pressure from skittish investors.

All the leading Chinese solar manufacturers, including Suntech, have advanced technologies to make silicon solar cells incrementally more efficient. If one of these giants does fall, those innovations would be lost unless they are purchased from competitors.

But Suntech and other solar companies' problems are economic, not technical. With a supply of solar panels roughly double what the demand is, there's no sign that the ongoing shake-up has run its course. "We need some of these companies to go out of business for the industry to survive and be profitable," says Bachman.

solar, solar power, solar power plants, SunTech Related Articles:

View the Original article