2012
May 28, 2012
Gujarat has leapfrogged far ahead of other Indian states in solar energy installations. This is despite the fact that Rajasthan had won the lion’s share of […]
May 27, 2012
Oil 3x ETFs are leveraged Exchange Traded Funds designed to seek daily investment results, before fees and expenses, of 300% of the performance of the benchmark […]
May 25, 2012
Structural Unemployment has become a big problem in developed countries where middle class jobs are being permanently destroyed. The advent of modern communications and technology has […]
May 24, 2012
India has for long lacked an agency to control the monopolistic and predatory practices of Indian companies . The old MTRP Act had become quite toothless after […]
May 23, 2012
Saudi Arabia has recently unveiled a new plan to add almost 40 Gigawatts of solar power over the next 20 years investing more than $100 billion. […]
May 21, 2012
Micro-wind turbines are small-scale wind turbines that convert Wind Energy into electricity. The wind speed is the important factor on which the amount of electricity generated […]
May 21, 2012
Facebook overvaluation proves itself with underwriters left holding shares worth billions of dollars
There is no disputing the fact of Facebook dominance in social media but its model of making money is far from proved to give it such a huge market value . The underwriters of the company are said to have massive amounts of shares worth billions which they have bought to hold the company's stock price above the IPO price of $38. The trading was marked by a number of glitches which is now being investigated by SEC. This has become a regular occurence reducing trust in the US capital market systems . A lot of the future earnings power is already built into the stock price of the company at $100 billion. It will take a lot of effort to get to the earnings level to justify the market price . In the fast changing technology landscape that is a huge risk . 3 years ago nobody would have questioned the dominance of Nokia and RIMM in the mobile space . But now these companies are fighting for survival. Stock picking is a game of probabilities and in the case of Facebook the current stock price does not justify the risk in buying it.
May 20, 2012
Smart Grid Companies A smart grid is an electrical grid, that is digitally enabled to procure & distribute information in order to improve the efficiency, reliability and […]
May 19, 2012
Solar Companies around the world are facing hard times with bankruptcies galore. Not only hundreds of small installers, erstwhile behemohts like Q-Cells have defaulted on debt […]
May 17, 2012
Indian Insurance Industry Story Sours with Job Losses and Exits with ULIP Reforms and FDI No-Reforms
The Indian Insurance Industrywhich was massively booming like the telecom industry at one time in India is now seeing similar troubles. The industry saw many entrants […]
May 14, 2012
Globalization refers to the increase in international trade & commerce amongst the different countries, through the reduction of geographic barriers. With the rapid innovation of smart […]
May 11, 2012
Global Warming The increase in the average temperature of Earth’s atmosphere and oceans is known as Global Warming. It is believed to have started in 1975–80. Because […]
May 10, 2012
India’s fast growing middle and upper classes are consuming electronic gadgets at an astounding rate.The replacement cycle has also decreased dramatically as growing disposable incomes means […]
May 9, 2012
Online Banking With the increased use of Internet, a variety of avenues and facilities have been opened for the masses. It gives us access to facilities […]
May 5, 2012
Biofuels The liquid fuels that can be obtained from biomass like plant matter or by the waste that living creatures produce, such as manure is known […]
March 29, 2012
This may be a dramatic statement to make about the world's most valued solar company but there are several reasons which I will explain below to illustrate this point. Note the solar industry is in a league of its own in the astonishing drop it solar panel prices (80% price drop over the last 3-4 years) and the rapid increase in demand (60% CAGR over the last 10 years).So the comparison and analysis by your usual stock hacks on financial portals like Motley and Seeking Alpha is way off the mark. First Solar had the worst 2 quarters in its history in 2011 as it went from a record breaking profit company into the red. Many issues which were hidden by its past success came out in the open and some of them are life threatening. Here are these problems
March 23, 2012
Wave and Tidal Energy have been the poor cousins of Solar and Wind Power in the Alternative Energy Domain. I have written about the wave energy companies and advantages and disadvantages of tidal power in the past as well. But the investment opportunities in this area of clean energy have been limited because the technology is still in its infancy. Dr. Ashok has come out with a plan to build a 100 MW device using wave energy and needs funding to develop it. Below is a description of the Plan and the Funding required . Interested Investors can do their due diligence and contact the inventor directly.
March 1, 2012
The CSE concurs and also criticizes the support for large wind farms as well . Note the capital subsidy and depreciation given to wind farms makes it much more lucrative to just build wind energy turbines rather than on focusing on the electricity generated . This has made many wind farms generate only half of the electricity given by normal wind turbines. Note the article also emphasizes on giving subsidies to the poor through loans and subsidies for biomass energy to shift them from dirty energy sources like kerosene.
February 29, 2012
China's solar panel companies can used their government banks backing as a major competitive advantage. Just like their telecom equipment companies ZTE and Huawei they can use the debt to win contracts over suppliers from India and elsewhere. Note there is a already a major controversy in the USA over the subsidies and support given to Chinese solar companies and has led to a so called solar trade war between the two . Even USA has used its EXIM Bank to provides millions of dollars in financing of solar farms which are supplied by US Solar Panel producers First Solar. Chinese companies Goldpoly are using the strong billion dollar lines to build solar projects in the Europe as well
February 27, 2012
The falling prices of solar panels has made almost impossible thought of solar electricity prices possible today. In a state auction of solar projects ,a small company Alex Green Energy bid only 14c/ KwH to win the auction. The price is lower than that seen in the Indian federal subsidy auction JNNSM. Note Rs 7/ Kwh that was bid is close to the Rs 6-7/ Kwh retail electricity prices in most cities in India.Note in the first phase of auction the lowest price was more than 50% higher at Rs 10/ kwh
February 27, 2012
Solar Power in India grew by 400% in 2011 thanks mainly to the growth of large solar farms built using government subsidies. However there are hardly […]
February 27, 2012
The falling prices of solar panels and wind systems has made a number of people think of installing renewable energy systems on their roofs. The reasons for doing that are multiple such as
1) Rely less on the power grid which in India is unreliable ,has voltage fluctuations and sees massive brownouts
2) The increasing prices of electricity which are rising faster than inflation .They will continue to increase as cheap coal is becoming scarce and subsidies are making distribution companies bankrupt
3) To make a difference in the fight against climate change and global warming.
February 26, 2012
Oil Rich Middle Eastern Nations like Kuwait,UAE and Saudi Arabia have been planning to build nuclear energy plants for quite some time now. They have been extensively engaged in discussions with Asian consortia to supply technology and expertise for building nuclear power plants in their countries. The reason for their nuclear love is that these nations are seeing rapid growth in energy demand. The reason is their fast growing population which is increasing their consumption of oil and gas produced. This is reducing the export dollars from the supply of fossil fuels. The countries want to increase renewable and nuclear power so that they can conserve their depleting supplies of oil for exports. However the Fukushima incident has given some of them cold feet. While countries like Vietnam and China are pressing ahead with their nuclear expansion plans, Japan,Germany,Switzerland have decided to give up nuclear power. Widespread nuclear protests in Germany made the government take the drastic action of stopping a number of nuclear reactors. Kuwait Develops Cold Feet on Nuclear Energy,will UAE and Saudie\s capitulate as well
February 25, 2012
India's Solar PowerIndustry is starting to see some M&A with both domestic and foreign companies buying smaller firms. While the biggest M&A story is that of Tata Power acquiring the stake in Tata BP Solar, other firms without any grounding in the energy industry are too getting in. Now a Coal Equipment and EPC company Tecpro is getting into the solar energy business by acquiring a small solar lighting and heating company Eversun.Tecpro Systemsis primarily focused on the Power Sector Space.It is a leader in the ash handling and material handling systems and is currently diversifying into becoming a turnkey provider in this segment.Like other infrastructure players it has seen amazing growth in the last 3 years at around 70%+.The growth has been fantastic both on the topline and the bottomline.The 2300 crore Order book provides some comfort over the next year’s revenues or so.The Power Sector in India particularly the Thermal Power Plants are expected to see an explosive growth period.Steel and Cement sectors are also growing strongly.With Tecpro Systems focusing on these 3 segments,it should be able to maintain a good growth trajectory in the future years as well
February 25, 2012
The Indian Solar Power Industry is starting to see some Solar M&A activity pick up as the sector starts maturing. The Indian Solar Energy Industry starting picking up pace in 2009 with the advent of the first phase of the solar federal subsidy which envisaged putting up 20 GW by 2022 (a figure which I think is too low btw) . A large number of companies entered the fray many of which were small . These companies hoped to profit from selling the licenses rather than being serious players. Many of these companies could not do so as the reverse auction process was quite competitive. A large number of companies also got started to take advantage of individual state subsidies from governments in Gujarat.
February 24, 2012
Solarworld which is the biggest solar panel company from Germany lost marketshare to the Chinese companiees in 2011 . The company which has been at the forefront of leading anti-dumping charges against import of Chinese made solar modules into the USA, lost substantial amounts of money. Solarworld had earlier closed its panel making facility in California. The company sold lesser number of solar panels in 2011 compared to 2010 despite the global solar market increasing by 30-40% . With only around 800 MW of shipments , Solarworld has only 3-4% of the global marketshare compared to 10% for bigger Chinese rivals.
February 24, 2012
Solar Energy is one of the best ways to bring energy to the disenfranchised poor in Africa and Asia which have no access to electricity and energy. Note Solar Panel prices have fallen by almost 90% in the last 4-5 years making solar energy much more accessible to the poor . Solar Panels can be now be bought at less than $200 which makes them affordable to large sections of the poor. They having stopped costing a ton in subsidy money given the low prices. Besides massive capacities exist in China and other places in Asia which can churn out solar panels in the hundreds of millions.
February 23, 2012
Critics have claimed that Germany has spent $130 billion in solar subsidies to provide only 0.3% of its electricity. This is a shallow and ignorant argument at its worst. The critics from all over the world cite figures and statistics without going into the deeper implications. Germany has in the last 5 years made solar energy reach the poorest people in the world . The country's subsideis have made large solar companies lower costs and improve technology at a rapid pace to keep up with the lowered subsidies. Solar Panels which were sold for $4/watt in 2008 are solar for 80c/watt now. A truly remarkable story in Energy which has been missed the the fossil fuel funded hacks in media. For the last few centuries man has been trying to harness solar energy at reasonable costs but has failed to make a big impression. Germany in the last 5 years has made a huge and lasting impact as solar energy will go from strenght to strenght ..
February 23, 2012
China which is the world's largest provider of solar panels made from crystalline silicon is seeing a large number of smaller polysilicon companies go bankrupt or stop production. The reason is that for many of the smaller companies the price of polysilicon is $25-30/kg while the costs are $40-50/kg .This means that the smaller companies are making massive losses with the production of each kg of polysilicon. Note Polysilicon is a commodity industry like the memory industry and goes through periodic ups and downs when prices can go much below costs. In recent years a large number of companies set up polysilicon plants to benefit from the massive growth in the solar panel demand in Europe. However a massive glut in 2011 led the prices to fall across the supply chain of silicon solar panels. Poly prices fell from a high of $100/kg to $25/kg a drop of almost 75% in one year. This has made many of the smaller poly plants in China stop production as the price is below variable costs. The bigger producers like GCL , Renesola and Daqo have lower costs at around $25-30/kg which means they are breaking even . However for smaller companies the situation is dire as massive capacity expansion by the top polysilicon producers will continue in 2012 keeping prices at around the same level.
February 19, 2012
This Post is aimed towards solar panel and inverter manufacturers who may want to supply the following readers below. This Post will be regularly be updated […]