ANY overlooking exposed stretches bleary-eyed Londoner

I say two bear markets because after peaking in early 2008 above 308, grid tie inverter the Guggenheim Solar ETF (ticker: TAN) lost more than 80% of its value to its early 2009 low. After more than two years of volatile but flat trading, it broke down again in mid-2011 and lost another 80% from there to last month's low at 12.60 (it traded at 16.80 Monday afternoon).

Other than registering oversold technical conditions in November, the initial rally off the low seemed ordinary at first. Even grueling bear markets have occasional bouts of rising prices as bulls and bears rethink their positions.

But this time, several indicators are different. For example, money seems to be flowing into the sector according to a measure called on-balance volume, which keeps a running tally of volume on up-days minus volume on down-days (see Chart 1). The theory is that days with rising prices suggest demand, and the higher the volume the stronger the demand. Therefore, a rising on-balance volume indicator suggests a cumulative demand for the ETF and a positive underlying condition.

The deals are with Tallbear Seville LLC to purchase 20 megawatts from a facility under construction northwest of Brawley, and with 8minutenergy Renewables to buy the same amount of power inverter from the Calipatria Solar Farm.

Both projects are expected to come online in 2015 and deliver power to SDG&E over the Sunrise Powerlink, a major energy transmission line connecting San Diego with the Imperial Valley.

"The Calipatria Solar Farm will deliver clean energy to over 9,000 households in SDG&E's service area and create more than 50 direct and 100 indirect jobs in the Imperial Valley," said Martin Hermann, CEO of 8minutenergy Renewables.

"We would like to thank SDG&E for their continued commitment to the Imperial Valley, where the unemployment rate is among the highest in the nation," he said.

SDG&E reported that 20.8 percent of its sales last year were for renewable energy. In the last two years, the utility has signed contracts to add 1,879 megawatts of power from renewable sources.

 The District or Circle underground lines in the small hours of Sunday must have pinched themselves. For the first time in more than 100 years, a steam train was carrying passengers on the tube.

By Mike Wille

Story Published: Dec 17, 2012 at 4:54 PM PST

Story Updated: Dec 17, 2012 at 5:19 PM PST

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - San Diego Gas & Electric announced Monday that it has signed two 20-year contracts to receive solar panel energy from Imperial County.

After shedding more than 96% of its value and suffering not one but two bear markets over the past four years, the solar-energy sector appears to be set up for something unusual—rising prices. While the sector is still far from a bullish juggernaut, investors should pay heed to several sharp changes for the better in technical indicators.