Solar Winners & Losers: Solar Farm Spike?

Prospects for the solar energy industry just keep on getting brighter.

Yesterday, the Department of Interior announced an effort to speed up the development of solar projects on dedicated public lands in the west.

The Bureau of Land Management will evaluate the solar suitability of 24 zones of land designated Solar Energy Study Areas in six states -- Nevada, Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. In all, the land comes to 670,000 acres. The department also said it's opening one of four renewable energy coordination offices in Nevada to help evaluate applications for energy projects. So far, the BLM has received 158 solar-related applications.

"The two dozen areas we are evaluating could generate nearly 100,000 megawatts of solar electricity," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a release. "With coordinated environmental studies, good land-use planning and zoning and priority processing, we can accelerate responsible solar energy production that will help build a clean-energy economy for the 21st century."

Solar stocks were mixed on the day thus far. Shares of First Solar(FSLR Quote) and Ascent Solar Technologies(ASTI Quote) were in positive territory, up 2.3% and 1.8% respectively. SunPower(SPWRA Quote), and Yingli Green Energy(YGE Quote) joined them, gaining 1.1% and 3.3% by the afternoon.

LDK Solar(LDK Quote) and Evergreen Solar(ESLR Quote) were changing hands in the red today, losing 2.8% and 3.1% respectively.