During these tough times for solar companies the number healthy enough for their stocks to be included in the Ardour Solar Energy Index (SOLRX) dropped below 30 for the first times since the index’s creation.

Ardour deleted three stocks from its index because they did not meet the inclusion criteria, said Walter Nasdeo with Ardour Capital Investments. That brought the number of stocks in the index down to 29, the lowest number since the index was created in 2006.

The criteria include, among many other quantitative factors, that the stock trade for $1 or more and that the company’s market capital is at least $100 million.

Danen Technology Corporation (3686 TT), Phoenix SonnenStorm AG (PS4 GR) and Solar Millennium AG (S2M GR) were all deleted from the index because their market capital fell below the required $100 million.

“We will keep our eyes on those companies, and if things turn around, we will include them again,” Nasdeo said.

He said the market has been tough on solar companies.

“Look at what’s been going on in this space over the last year,” Nasdeo said. “Some of the stocks that were trading at $15 to $25 a share have slipped—but if you look at some of the stocks that were trading at $2 to $4 a share, they’ve been going through the same things.”

Solar Millenium has completed and is working on some of the largest solar projects in the world, including the 1,000-megawatt Blythe Solar Power project in California. Yet the company’s market capital slipped below the solar index requirement.

Sometimes the benefits of a major project are hard to see when the project belongs to a larger parent company, Nasdeo said.

For other companies, the financing environments can be tricky.

“Financing, I don’t want to say it can be hard to find,” Nasdeo said, “but it is highly selective.”

He said projects have to be solid and companies seeking funding have to be able to show that their projects will be profitable.

While falling module prices and increased pricing competition from China manufacturers has made the solar market a hard one to advance in, there is good news.

Warren Buffet’s company purchased the Topaz Solar Farm project in Central California Thursday.

“This is a huge positive for this space,” Nasdeo said. “Buffet is not a high risk guy.”

While Buffet’s entry into the solar world indicates its promising future to other investors, it hardly marks a turning point for solar stocks.

“It doesn’t mean it’s going to trickle down to other companies in this space,” Nasdeo said.