Solar Energy

Articles related to Solar Energy

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 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 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

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 […]
June 18, 2012

Solar Energy in Pakistan – Why are Financially challenged organizations building solar plants in a financially challenged country

Pakistan is facing a major energy crisis as years of corruption and mismanagement has made the country into a basket case. Thousands of SMEs are facing […]
June 16, 2012

First Indian Solar Renewable Energy Certficaties sold for 24c/Kwh as NLDC certifies solar plants ; New Solar Funding Mechanism holds Promise

The Indian Solar Electricity generating industry has mainly been funded by the auction mechanism at the federal and state level. The solar generators get their electricity […]
June 15, 2012

Solar Thin Film Companies Dying like Flies in the face of Chinese c-Si module competition

While the solar bankruptcies that are going on for the last year or so are nothing new, the pace has accelerated in recent times. With even […]
June 14, 2012

SCHUCO Solar Panel Review

About the Company Schuco is a leading developer of comprehensive systems for solar power and solar heating. It is the market leader for innovative & energy-efficient […]
June 13, 2012

Yingli Solar Panel Review

Updated on: 8/06/2016 About Yingli Green Energy Yingli Green Energy is one of the oldest Chinese companies and is completely integrated from polysilicon. Currently Yingli is […]
June 5, 2012

How GCL, LDK and and Renesola could benefit from the US- China Solar Trade War

The US imposition of duties on Solar panel imports from China has raised the hackles of the Chinese Government which considers the solar industry to be […]
June 1, 2012

European Solar Installers and Taiwanese Solar Cell Producers Biggest Beneficiaries of the US-China Trade Spat

The US imposition of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on China made solar cells has brought out unintended beneficiaries and losers. I had explained in an earlier […]
May 31, 2012

6 Reasons why the Time for Buying Solar Stocks has arrived

Solar Stocks have made their investors suicidal with drops of of 80-90% from the top common even amongst the biggest solar companies. A number of solar […]
May 29, 2012

Solar Polysilicon Capacity Expansion stops after 4 crazy years of growth

Polysilicon capacity has almost grown by 10x in the last 5-6 years as massive demand growth from solar panels made suppliers add capacity without thinking about […]
May 28, 2012

Gujarat trailblazes solar energy growth in India with over 65% capacity and innovative 1 MW floating solar power plant

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 23, 2012

Solar in Saudi Arabia to be added at 2 Gigawatts annually for 30% Energy Generation – Fact or Fiction

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 19, 2012

Solar Companies in India face Hard Times – Executive Departures, Debt Restructuring

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 […]
March 29, 2012

7 Reasons Why First Solar no longer has a Business Model left

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 1, 2012

Why Indian Clean Energy Policy is Misguided by CSE

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

Chinese Bank Financing used by China's Solar Companies as a Competitive Advantage in India

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

Solar Electricity Price of 14c / KwH (unit) seen in Indian State Orissa Auction, Reaches Retail Electricity Price

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 Rooftops in India to get Capital Subsidies – Pilots in Gandhinagar,Jaipur, Mysore and Thane

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 […]