Axiom Out With Research On Italian Solar Market

Axiom Capital Management is out with a research report on the Italian solar power market. In the note, Axiom writes, "While it is hard to handicap what will happen in tomorrow's meeting between the two ministers, we will highlight that the Economic Minister who came up with the 8GW cap after months of deliberation has a majority in the committee responsible for voting on this decree on Thursday (furthermore, this Minister is the one who recommended a 1MW cap on ag. land in Nov. 2010 when the consensus view was that installations in Italy would be 1-1.5GW in 2010, vs. the ~7GW that was sold in – this suggests, in our view, the Minister will hold strong in his view that an 8GW cap is necessary)." Axiom goes on to say, "In closing, when we posed this question to our contact in Italy: “If 1MW cap on ag. land effective immediately is implemented, is the Italian market for solar PV dead right now in your view?”, he responded: “It will kill the market 12 months from today.” However, when considering modules have been purchased for roughly half of the plants which have currently received their permits, we believe the implications for new module sales into Italy could feel the “pinch” in a matter of months."