From Barron's:

"the company's June quarter revenue 'beat' was a figment of bookkeeping: First Solar recognized $84 million in revenue as a result of reclassifying its investment in a project as 'debt' rather than 'equity.'"

"After banks lent money to the project -- a 53-megawatt solar farm southeast of Berlin -- First Solar gave up its right to convert its own investment into an equity stake, and then decided to recognize sales and profits on the solar panels it supplied the project."

Nothing like using the sun to "cook the books".

It could get a lot worse for the solar industry before it gets better:

1) We don't need more electricity generation. Due to the recession, electricity demand is down.

2) Due to the recession, people and governments are less likely to try to solve our energy problems. We are in putting-out-fires mode.

3) Due to the recession, governments can't afford to subsidize their solar projects. Thus, the world will have to take the slow adoption path. When an old coal or nuclear power plant is decommissioned it can be replaced by renewable resources, if they are the cheapest option (because governments don't have extra money, even if it will cost them more in the future - maybe there will be more money to fix future problems).

Thus, it looks like we are going to have to just hit the brick wall before we pick ourselves up, dust off and rebuild our economy and energy infrastructure. It's probably going to get very ugly. However, once that is done things should get very exciting.