Blog

July 6, 2012

Why Indian State owned Electricity Distibutors and Generators are living in mortal fear of the Sun

India’s Green Companies are seeing tremendous growth backed by the nation’s massive energy demand increase. However, it is a known fact that India’s power situation is […]
July 5, 2012

Despite massive Green Manufacturing Expansion, China’s Greenhouse Effect to grow to critical levels by 2020

China Solar and Wind China’s renewable (solar & wind) manufacturing industry has generated a massive global oversupplying leading to a price crash in solar panels and […]
July 5, 2012

Indian Solar Power Plants performing Badly as Biggest developers shirk on Quality, Maintenance

Indian states continue to award solar power projects to big developers like Welspun Energy, Moser Baer and others despite shoddy performance by big power developers. Tata […]
July 4, 2012

Indian Renewable Energy Certificate Market grows by an astounding 600% annually

India recently introduced the Renewable Energy Certificate Scheme to promote the use of Green Energy in India through a market based pricing mechanism. Other cleantech subsidies […]
July 4, 2012

Why Investing in DRAM Industry makes great sense as Painful and Prolonged Industry Consolidation leaves only Three players left – Micron, Samsung and Hynix

The DRAM Industry has seen a long and painful consolidation with many players going bankrupt and others being gobbled up by bigger companies. Many companies left […]
July 3, 2012

Solar Shutdowns this Week sees German heavyweight Schott Solar close shop at 4 factories as Chinese onslaught ruthless.

German Solar Companies Are being pushed out of the solar market they developed by the ruthless assault of Chinese solar panel companies. Already stalwarts of the […]
July 3, 2012

Even as Fukushima Cooling System Fails, Japanese Authorities restart Ohi Nuclear Plant in face of Massive Protests

Japanese Government Gave the go ahead in restarting the nuclear power plants in the country after all the nuclear reactors were shut down post the Fukushima […]
July 2, 2012

Why has Abound Solar Demise Surprised People

The news report on Department of Energy informing of Abound Solar demise surprised many people and led to the usual media excitement of Obama’s faulty loans […]
July 2, 2012

Solar Energy dominates Renewables Growth in 2011 with 60% share at $147 billion growing at 50% y/y even as Wind Energy Investment flattens out

Solar Energy Investment in Solar Energy sector jumped by more than 50% y/y to around $150 billion in 2011 with solar projects being built frantically in […]
July 1, 2012

Solar in UK sees a Utility Scale Solar Farm boom powered by Renewable Obligation Certificates

United Kingdom is seeing a raft of new Solar Farm projects in the 20-50 MW range even as the solar feed in tariffs have been sharply […]
June 30, 2012

Competing with your Own Second Hand Products – Massively Oversupplied Solar Equipment Industry faces Unique Problem

Solar Panels have become massively oversupplied globally with companies in the boom years of 2010 and 2011 installing record amount of solar equipment. It is estimated […]
June 29, 2012

Solar Demand in Japan to explode with IRR of 30%, as Government sets crazily high Tariff of 53c/KwH, implicit barriers may keep Chinese out

Japan after the Fukushima disaster had set out on a plan to increase the share of renewable energy in the electricity mix which is abysmally low. […]
June 29, 2012

Solar Equipment Companies start to face their consumer woes as Centrotherm sees financing problems, Oerlikon sells its Thin Film Unit

Solar Equipment Companies Saw a massive increase in revenues and profits as Asian companies led by the Chinese built a huge amount of solar cell, wafer […]
June 28, 2012

Solar in US should Grow by 100% in 2012 as Installation Costs down only 7% – not reflecting Solar Panel Price Crash of 50%

US Solar Demand is booming despite the fact that solar installation costs are coming down at a much slower rate compared to the solar panel price […]
June 28, 2012

Indian Solar Projects Highly Risky – making Financiers wary despite claims of "Solar Shining"

Indian Solar Energy has received wide acclaim in national and international media for being a great success. However compared to other countries, the claims seem quite […]
June 27, 2012

Big Chinese Companies gobble up financially strained Western solar technology firms

Chinese Scenario Big Chinese state owned companies are gobbling up financially strained Western solar firms as a massive overcapacity in global solar panel supply (caused by […]
June 27, 2012

Chint Astronergy Solar Panel Review – Crystalline & Thin Film PV, Warranty & Quality

Astronergy was founded in 2006 and is the solar subsidiary of the Chint Group. As a leading integrated solar manufacturer, Astronergy specializes in research, development & […]
June 26, 2012

Talesun Solar Panel Review – Types, Warranty, Certifications, Advantages

Talesun is an international manufacturer of solar cells and modules with offices in Munich, San Jose and Shanghai. The photovoltaic solar cells and modules are manufactured in China […]
June 26, 2012

India's Antitrust Regulator goes extreme in fining Cement Cartel ,Scares Yarn Producers in lowering Prices

Note India desperately needs someone to break the oligopolies and cartels created by numerous sectors such as yarn producers, cement players etc. But you have to find a balance between penalizing them and bankrupting them.Most of the developed countries like USA and European Union have highly developed and advanced competition regulators which impose hundreds of millions in fines against domestic and international companies who indulge in anti-market practises.The fines serve as a great deterrence where powerful corporates try to undermine the market forces through their sheer size.The landmark anti monopoly legal cases against Microsoft,LCD companies have proved to be very effective in punishing super powerful businesses who have shafted consumers through illegal practises.
June 25, 2012

How to invest in Indian Mutual Funds – Don't Put a Ruppee ,50% underperform benchmark ,Many involved in Frauds

I have always said that investing in Indian mutual funds is a dumb idea given the lack of regulation , under performance, high fees and front […]
June 25, 2012

Solar Polysilicon Market in Crisis – Oversupply seen till 2014, Prices crash Below Cost, Daqo and GCL want anti dumping duties

The Polysilicon Companies have seen an amazing amount of profits in the period between 2008-2011 end as prices of polysilicon shot up to $400/kg which resulted […]
June 24, 2012

One of India's Biggest Killers ITC gets Awarded from UNDP

ITC which is a subsidiary of BAT is India's largest producer of tobacco products and has almost a monopoly position in the manfacture of cigarettes. Using its massive cash flows from the ever prospering tobacco business, the company has diversified into a number of other business segments like retail, agro industry, hotels , paper etc. The company has become one of India's biggest consumer companies using tobacco profits to extend its Indian empire. Lack of government action on tobacco has made it the biggest Indian company However the biggest source of revenue and profits continue to be the cigarrete segment which kills thousands of Indians each year.
June 23, 2012

More Shallow, Useless Research on Indian Solar Power – This time from CARE

Indian mainstream research companies keep coming out with pages and pages of useless research on Indian solar power. Most of its value is not worth the paper it is written on with mindless reams of useless statistics and projections . This time CARE ratings has come out saying that solar power will reach grid parity by 2017 . Don't know how they have come out with this magical number just as Crisil has come with a magic number as well.
June 22, 2012

In an oversupplied solar cell market, BHEL to invest $500 million to build factory in Minister's Constituency

However India's biggest capital good equipment company BHEL owned by the government is plannning a $500 million investment to build a solar cell factory in at Sakoli which is part Union heavy industries minister Praful Patel's constituency Bhandara.Talk about how dumb you can get. BHEL hardly has too much expertise in the solar panel industry and with solar cells in massive oversupply,it is almost sure to lose money. However that is how things work with Indian government companies where investment is made at the whims of ministers rather than rationality and business sense.BHEL is currently trading at one of the lowest valuations in its 10 year history and its not a big wonder why. The company has benefited in the past as did other machinery and engineering companies from an infrastructure invesment boom. However those glory days are over for the company as it faces competition from the Chinese companies and decreasing orders flow. Praful Patel the minister has already spent a few years in the airline ministry presiding over the conversion of the state owned carrier Air India ino a basket case. Now its the turn of BHEL to be turned into a basket case as well.
June 21, 2012

Japanese Solar Panels – Comprehensive Guide to Manufacturers, Cost, Efficiency &Technology

Updated: 7/06/2016 Japanese Solar Panel companies Sharp, Kyocera, Panasonic-Sanyo, Mitsubishi were the top solar panel producers in the world. Solar Energy in Japan has a long […]
June 21, 2012

Contrarian Investing in Solar Stocks as Sell Side sees Solar Industry Gloom and Doom, Jeffries sees degrowth in 2013

However I think that with the prices going down by such a lot , demand elasticity is rapidly picking up leading First Solar to unexpectedly start its closed German plants. With most sell side analysts giving up the industry for dead, volumes dying down and a sense of doom existing ,its time to build positions here as the major solar companies like Trina,Yingli continue to grow volumes by 30-50% .
June 20, 2012

State Owned Chinese conglomerates strengthen their position in solar industry during industry crisis

While thousands of small solar companies in the world have gone / are going bust on account of massive industry oversupply and crashed solar panel prices, […]
June 20, 2012

Indian Solar Water Heaters capture 30% of the Water Heating Market of $200 million

Note the market for water heaters in India is around $200 million annually and solar water heaters have managed to capture more than 30% of the market showing that solar water heaters are now a part of the mainstream. Note many solar products are starting to become more mainstream as their price competitiveness increases every year. Solar Panels which are the most widely used solar product has seen the price come down by almost 80% in the last few years .
June 19, 2012

Nokia and HTC face body blows as Apple, Samsung Smartphone duopoly dominates

The mobile phone market has changed radically in the last few years with the advent of Apple’s iPhone. The introduction of the Apple smartphone was a […]
June 19, 2012

Indian Solar Power Myths and Misinformation – Crisil thinks Indian solar power at 13-14c/ KwH as risky

Solar power in the last few years has seen mainstream analysts, consultants and market research firms go massively wrong as they fail to understand the solar […]