Today in Cleantech

More bad news for China’s solar sector this morning, as LDK Solar becomes the latest Chinese solar equipment maker to replace a key financial officer amidst a market roiling from concern over potential accounting irregularities. LDK has seen share prices fall about 6 percent after announcing the resignation of the chairman of its auditing committee. LDK paid suing shareholders $16 million last year in a settlement over 2007 earnings and revenue inflation, so perhaps shareholders have reason for suspicion. The news echoes that from solar panel maker Trina Solar, which announced the resignation of audit committee chairman Peter Mak last week amidst concerns that another company Mak serves as CFO at, A-Power Energy Generation Systems, has failed to hire an independent accounting firm to review transactions. But as companies with records of accounting problems have suffered, so have Chinese solar companies that lack any such record. Last week saw big share drops for huge solar panel maker Suntech after its head of U.S. operations resign without explanation why he left, as well as for solar cell company JA Solar Holdings after its chief financial officer resigned. Looks like investors are backing away from the Chinese solar sector as a whole until things clear up a bit.