Gossip and Rumors from Solar Power 2006

NVIDIA going Solar?
I bumped into a trio of folks from NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) at the exhibition on Tuesday. They were doing fact finding on solar. Is NVIDIA just keeping up with the Googles (see the Governator webcast at timestamp 07:30) and market laggard Microsoft or planning to beat Intel and AMD (DAAMIT) to the punch?

Hoku polysilicon plant facing capital equipment crunch
I heard Hoku Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOKU) can expect lead times of 18 months or longer for key equipment to outfit the planned Hoku Materials' polysilicon production plant.

ErSol seeing the grass is greener with AMAT?
ErSol Solar Energy AG (FRA:ES6) CEO Claus Beneking was observed spending a lot of time at the Applied Materials, Inc. exhibition stand. Perhaps Oerlikon’s one size fits all Thin Film Silicon Solar Modules are a concern.

New Jersey solar module shrinkage
Over a two week period, New Jersey solar system installers were forced by the New Jersey Clean Energy Program to have every customer sign a contract addendum acknowledging the requirement to repay rebates on a prorated basis if they sell or transfer any part of their system outside of New Jersey within 10 years.