South China Morning Post: Solar Prospects Dim as Subsidies Peter Out and Overcapacity Builds

“What goes up, must come down.”

That’s the rather stark assessment by one analyst, of the expected fortunes of China’s solar power industry in the second half, after the number of panel installations scorched ahead by a record 159 percent in the first six months.

“After a rush in installations [during this year’s first half] to pre-empt scheduled tariff cuts from July 1, we are now turning bearish on the outlook for China’s solar sector in the second half and next year,” said Macquarie Capital senior analyst Patrick Dai in a report, in which he even advises investors to shift their holdings to wind power.

PV-Tech: NRG Energy and Crius Propose Bids for SunEdison Assets

Bankrupt renewables firm SunEdison is seeking bankruptcy court approval to sell a number of its North American assets as part of its restructuring plan.

NRG Energy, one of the biggest U.S. energy companies and dual-headquartered in New Jersey and Houston, has reportedly bid $144 million to buy 2.1 GW of wind and solar projects, subject to higher bids.

The development of asset sales continued with independent energy retailer Crius, which has also proposed the acquisition of certain SunEdison assets for $1.5 million. Crius plans to further expand its solar energy business, as demonstrated by its recent strategic alliance with Sungevity.

Bloomberg: The World’s Energy Engine Is Slowing

China’s imports of crude oil, coal and natural gas slowed in July, offering no solace for producers hoping demand from the world’s largest energy consumer may help mop up global gluts of the fuels.

The nation imported about 7.35 million barrels a day last month, the slowest pace since January, according to data released Monday from the General Administration of Customs. Inbound shipments of coal slipped 2.5 percent from June, while natural gas slumped more than 13 percent.

The July data reflects sluggish economic growth in the world’s second-largest economy and contrasts with the country’s rising energy imports in the first six months, which added some support to global prices.

OilPrice: The Consequences of Big Oil’s Exploding Debt

How do you ride out low oil prices and still pay dividends and CEO salaries? You double down on debt, apparently.

All oil majors posted plunging profits or accumulated losses in the second quarter, blaming low crude prices and weak refining margins for these results that missed estimates -- in some cases by wide margins. All saw cash flows shrinking, and yet, all kept dividends intact and vowed to continue investing in their respective major projects.

Quite naturally, all these factors have led to supermajors amassing more and more debt since crude oil prices started slumping in 2014.

Forbes: SolarCity And ComEd Discover Shared Vision for Utilities' Future

ComEd doesn’t deliver any solar energy to its Chicago-area customers, and California-based SolarCity doesn’t do business in Illinois, but from distant reaches of the country, and from opposite ends of the power grid, the two companies have come to much the same conclusion about the future of utilities.

Their respective CEOs, Anne Pramaggiore for ComEd and Lyndon Rive for SolarCity, urged legislators from all 50 states Monday to write laws that would help utilities shift from energy-delivery pipelines to energy-sharing platforms.

“We’re initiating our delivery system’s shift from today’s pipeline architecture -- moving central-station power across wires to customers at the other end -- to a platform architecture, which is the business architecture of the 21st century,” Pramaggiore said at the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Legislative Summit in Chicago.