Trina Solar receives US$304 million loan facility to support 500MW capacity expansion project. And: "Says Solar Credit Crunch to Ease Next Year (TSL)

In Friday's "Solar crisis set to hit in 2010, 50% of manufacturers may not survive, says The Information Network" my first thought was "Better check those balance sheets boys and girls."

Liquidity is expensive but illiquidity is much more so. The stock is up $0.84.
From PV-Tech:

Trina Solar has obtained a five-year syndicated US$304 million loan facility to support its East Campus 500MW capacity expansion project, which is to be completed over the next three years. The lenders consist of a syndicate of five domestic banks led by the Agricultural Bank of China and the Bank of China. The first drawdown is expected to occur in September 2009 in accordance with the schedule agreed upon with the lenders. The loan proceeds will be used to fund the company's capital expenditure targets for the Q209 and will also be immediately used to repay related outstanding loans of approximately US$80 million due on June 30, 2010....MORE

An insightful article from Reuters:

China's export-dependent solar panel makers are seeing a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel after a difficult year fighting a global credit squeeze and a spate of project delays, a senior industry executive said.

Major markets in Europe and the United States are slowly recovering, Terry Wang, the chief financial officer of U.S.-listed Trina Solar, said at the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit in Beijing.

"The worst is already over, and the whole sector in the United States and China can wake up in the fourth quarter, but a full recovery is likely to have to wait until the second quarter of next year," Wang said.

Trina has successfully navigated a 50-percent collapse in solar panel prices this year, helped by significantly lower polysilicon raw material costs, and was well placed to exploit strong underlying demand in the global market, he added.

"Affected by the financial crisis this year, our shipment volume has still increased, and our profitability has been maintained and increased compared to last year despite such a rapid drop in prices -- that's not easy," he said.

Trina Solar, founded in 1997 and based in the city of Changzhou in the Yangtze river delta, earned $0.71 per share in the second quarter, up 4 percent from a year earlier and well ahead of analysts' expectations.

Wang said the company was on course to meet its shipment targets for this year and planned to raise production capacity to between 850 and 950 megawatts by the end of next year, from 400 MW now....MORE