Solar Power Inc. delays earnings report

Solar Power Inc. has rescheduled the release of its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2009 earnings until the company’s audit is complete, Solar Power announced Thursday.

The earnings results will now be released March 31.

The Roseville-based photovoltaic designer, manufacturer and marketer hosted a conference call Thursday to instead discuss recent business developments, including Sacramento County’s commitment to Solar Power of $24.7 million in federal stimulus funds, and Solar Power’s plans to expand its China-based manufacturing to Sacramento County and to build a 10-megawatt solar power system, also in the county.

Steve Kircher, chairman and chief executive officer for Solar Power Inc., said the company is “disappointed” it can’t deliver its earnings results just yet.

But he said “we continue to get more excited” about the company every day, and the company intends to be a “major player.”

Residential sales in Placer County are “exploding” in the wake of Assembly Bill 811. Signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in July 2008, AB 811 allows cities and counties to create special assessment districts that provide the up-front cost of solar installations and energy-efficiency improvements through financing garnered by the sale of clean-energy bonds. Placer County, where Solar Power is based, recently approved a program under AB 811.

“We’re tracking toward doing in one quarter out of that (Roseville) store what we did all last year,” Kircher said. “It’s really, really exciting what’s going on at the residential level.”

Kircher noted that Solar Power is doing business now in Belgium, where it has 13 dealers, Spain and Australia.

Shares of Solar Power were up 1.83 percent to $1.11 in afternoon trading Thursday.