On Apr 7, Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. YGE announced that it has supplied 15.5 megawatts (“MW”) of solar panels to a subsidiary of South Jersey Industries, Inc. SJI, Marina Energy. The company develops PV projects and provides engineering, procurement, and construction solutions.

Folsom, NJ-based South Jersey Industries is a parent company to a number of New Jersey-based energy and energy services providers. The company is engaged in purchase, transmission and sale of natural gas.

This China based module manufacturer’s utility-scale multicrystalline YGE-U Series panels were installed by Marina Energy on three ground-mounted solar power plants in New Jersey. The three projects are – Frankford Solar, a 10 MW project situated in Branchville; Holland Solar, a 3.5 MW project sited in Holland; and Brickyard Solar, a 2 MW project located in Farmingdale.

Expected to be operational by the third quarter of 2015, Yingli Green’s panels will produce roughly 17.5 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of clean solar energy annually. This is enough to power 2,000 homes in New Jersey.

The clean energy produced by these panels will prevent 12,000 tons of carbon emissions over the shelf life of the panels which is as good as removing nearly 9,900 cars from the road.

Regulatory authorities across the U.S. states are formulating incentive ideas and encouraging businesses as well as home owners to adopt solar and other forms of clean energy to generate power. The statewide “New Jersey's Clean Energy Program” is offering various incentives to its residents, businesses and local governments to make use of renewable energy in order to reduce the carbon load.

Besides the U.S., China is also striving to increase solar power usage to generate electricity. Last month, The Chinese National Energy Administration (“NEA”) revealed its ambitious goal of installing 17.8 gigawatts (“GW”) of solar capacity in 2015, which is about 18.7% higher than the previous 15 GW proposal announced in February. This revived zeal is sure to benefit Chinese solar companies like JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. JASO, Trina Solar Ltd. TSL and the like.

In spite of the growing awareness, Yingli Green’s earnings report in the last four quarters hasn’t been quite impressive. The company reported a negative earnings surprise in three of the last four quarters with an average miss of 81.89%.

Yingli Green Energy currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).