Conglomerate

April 7, 2011

Solar Power in India – All you wanted to know Solar Power Plants,Solar Panel Manufacturers/Installers/Inverter Companies,Subsidies(JNNSM,Tariffs,REC,RPO) and Technology(PV,Solar Thermal)

Solar Industry is a fast growing exciting industry with its inevitable growth pangs as well.The first phase of India's Federal Policy has seen many hurdles and its success is in doubt,on the other hand Gujarat has managed to attract investment and power plants through a forward looking subsidy.States like Uttar Pradesh,Delhi,Maharashtra are also tentatively coming up with their own incentive policies.The Industry will see many ups and downs before it becomes a major billion dollar industry.Note Solar Power Industry has become the fastest growing in USA where it doubled last year and looks set to double this year again.The Nuclear Accident in Japan has given fresh energy to Solar Power with China set to double its target to 10 GW by 2015.
April 6, 2011

State of Solar Energy in India – Maharashtra,UP,Delhi formulate Solar Subsidies though far behind Gujarat

Solar Energy in India represents one of the best Energy opportunities in the 21st Century.However the growth at least in the initial stages will be geographically unequal.This is due to the fact that Solar Power requires strong government support and subsidies currently.The Indian Federal Government has already given it a strong push targeting 1000 MW by 2013 and 20 GW by 2022 under the JNSSM.While the Subsidy Program is facing some initial hurdles due to debt financing and aggressive project bidding,individual States are forging ahead to push Solar Energy on their own.Gujarat has been a trailblazer in this regard with The State has already recieved proposals for setting up around 365 MW of Solar Power.Gujarat through its own RPS and Feed in Tariff incentives is targeting 1000 MW by 2013.Rajasthan too is trying to exploit is massive solar insolation potential but its state policies have little clarity or direction yet.The state has signed around 1524 MW of Solar Project with 49 Developers.The Solar Policy Draft Proposal is mostly vague with a target of 10-12 GW in 10-12 years with around 500 MW in the next 2-3 years.Rajasthan is set to see massive solar installation despite its government's vagueness from the Federal JNNSM subsidy.Other states in India like UP,Delhiand Maharashtra have recently started making some moves but remains to be seen how good they are at implementing.While the UP solar subsidy is clearly quite ridiculous,Delhi seems to be on the way to implementing a smart policy of promoting small roof top solar residential installations.
April 5, 2011

PV Solar Cells – Guide to Solar Cell Costs and Efficiency,Buying Solar Cells ,Major Cell Manufacturers

PV Solar Cells or Photovoltaic Solar Cells are the building blocks of Solar Panels which are used to generate electricity from the Sun in residential or commercial establishments.Solar Cells are made of crystalline silicon the same substance that is used to make semiconductors which go into making of electronic products.Note Thin Film Solar Cells are not found for practical purposes as Thin FIlm Solar Production generally is a one step continuous process in which the whole solar panel is produced.On the other hand c-Si production is a 5 step process in which Solar Cells is the intermediate product of the 4th stage and goes as input to making of solar modules/panels.Solar Cells can be bought and made into Solar Panels as PV Solar Cells don't have much of a standalone usage.Note Buying Solar Cells and making DIY Solar Panels does not make much sense as it adds little value and does not save money.You are better off buying Solar Panels from affordable solar panel manufacturers.
April 2, 2011

List of Solar Companies By Country (Japan, Korea, China, Germany, India and USA)

Solar Industry is one of the fastest growing industries on the planet and the number of companies in the industry have increased dramatically attracted by the strong growth prospects and low entry barriers.The easy availability of solar producing equipment and low capital requirements for small companies have led to a mushrooming of the number of players in the industry.Its possible to set up a small 30 MW module production factory for as low an investment as $10 million or lower.Though the value add of a pure play solar panel production factory is low and the competetive position quite questionable nonetheless there are hundreds if not thousands of such small module producers in the world right now.Other parts of the crystalline silicon supply chain have also got a number of players though the technology and captial requirements are much higher.Listing out all the solar companies in the world is a difficult task and somewhat useless as well as many of these small scale solar companies will not exist in a few years as competition keeps intensifying.Consolidation in the solar industry will ensue sometime or the other and lead to a much smaller and sustainable industry.
April 1, 2011

Solar Panels Efficiency – Range,Technology Dependence,Companies with Highest Efficient Solar Modules

The Companies that make the Solar Panels with the highest efficiences are Sunpower and Panasonic/Sanyo.Sunpower has the highest efficient solar modules in the market using a properietary process and has solar cells with efficiency reaching a top limit of 24%.Sanyo also has very efficient solar panels under the HIT brand name.These solar panels also approach the 18% range (solar modules not cells).Normal crystalline plain vanilla solar panels come in the range of 13-14%.Note solar modules have lower efficiency than solar cells as some area is left for the frame etc.There are other companies that are fast catching up to Sunpower and Sanyo in the high efficiency solar panels as well.Note higher efficiency solar panels sell at higher prices per watt as the require lesser area.AUO which has a JV with Sunpower has recently claimed to have produced the higher efficiency solar panel .
March 31, 2011

Green Companies in India – Biomass,Solar,Wind,Geothermal,Hydroelectricity Energy Producers,Alternative Energy Utilities

India's Green Companies are seeing tremendous growth backed by the nation's massive energy demand increase.The 8% Plus Economic Growth coupled with the already massive electricity deficit which makes brownouts of 8 hours a day normal in many places in the country provides the macro background underpinning the growth.India's Green Industry is still in a nascent state compared to the massive solar and wind industries in countries like China and Germany.However attracted by the massive potential a number of companies small and large have entered the fray.Most of India's large energy groups,utilities have already established a small presence or are in process of doing so.While Wind Energy is the largest Renewable Energy Industry in India after HydroElectricity,Geothermal Energy is non-existent without a single large commercial plant.Biomass Energy is quite well developed and Solar Energy is the fastest growing Green Industry.Here is a comprehensive list of the Green Companies in India operating in the different Alternative Energy Sectors.
March 30, 2011

Solar Roof – What does it Mean (Solar Tiles,BIPV),Solar Shingle Companies,Advantages

Solar Roofs are a niche area but is growing in popularity with the entry of more and more companies selling products tailormade for this area.What are Solar Roofs exactly - does it mean a Roof with Solar Panels installed on it or something else.Solar Roofs are not roofs where solar electricity is generated by putting in solar mounting/racking systems and mainstream solar panels,rather they are roofs where specialized solar products called solar shingles are installed.Solar Roofs can also mean a roof where Building Integrated Photovoltaic products are installed.Some companies make BIPV products like flexible solar panels or organic/dye solar cell panels ( these are niche companies).
March 30, 2011

Sharp Solar – Why its Dumb to Buy Expensive Sharp Solar Panels

Sharp is the biggest company in the world in terms of making revenues from sales of solar panels so it seems counterintuitive for someone to recommend not buying Sharp Solar Panels.However this Japanese Conglomerate has been losing marketshare rapidly to cheaper Asian competitors.Sharp due to its factories in high cost locations makes solar panels at a much higher cost and sells them at much higher prices as well.The reason is that they manage to sell so many solar panels is that consumers are not educated about other better options and the other solar panel companies don't have the distribution networks.Note Sharp has been trying to diversify away from crystalline solar panels to thin film solar panels.The reason is that they are losing the competitive advantage to Chinese companies like Trina Solar and others.
March 29, 2011

Solar Panel Manufacturers – Guide to the Biggest and Best

Solar Panel Manufacturers globally have kept on increasing due to the fast growing nature of the industry and low entry barriers.However most of the solar panel manufacturers have high costs and low quality.Most of these producers have little growth prospects and are a bad choice to buy from as they might go bellyup.This would lead to a void of the 25 year warranty of the solar panels.So it makes sense only to buy from the biggest and best solar manufacturers in the world.Solar Panel Manufacturers are present in most parts of the world with Korea,China,Taiwan,USA,Japan and Germany dominating.However small solar panel producers are also present in most countries like Spain,Greece,India etc.Solar Panels are of mainly 2 type - crystalline and thin film.Most of the solar panels produced today are of the crystalline type and are mostly used in residential rooftops.Thin film panels are mostly used in large ground solar power plants.Thin film solar panels are of lower efficiency and are lower priced as well.However falling costs of crystalline solar panels has led to their increasing dominance.
March 28, 2011

Free Solar Panels – They don't Exist and Why you should not Confuse Free with Government Subsidies

Free Solar Panels don't exist just as Free iPads don't exist.Some websites and companies advertize free solar power or free solar panels based on government subsidies.Note even these free solar power offers are not completely free as they have a payback periods depending on how much government subsidies are given.Nobody is going to give you a free solar panel or a free iPad without a catch.
March 28, 2011

BP Solar Panels – Why you Should Avoid Buying Them (Environment,Pricing)

British Petroleum (BP) the multi billion dollar Oil and Gas Conglomerate is a strange player in the Renewable Energy Sector of Solar Energy.BP was a dominant company amongst the top 10 global manufacturers of solar panels till a few years ago.However the lack of interest on the part of management,low investment,lack of R&D has made it a bit player in the fast growing solar panel market.Companies which did not exist till a few years ago have outpaced BP to become top solar panel producers.However BP Solar Panels continue to sell in a number of market because of existing sales relationships and brand name.However it is only uneducated and uninformed consumers who are buying BP Solar Panels in my opinion.BP Solar Panels should be avoided both from an economic point of view and from the environment perspective.
March 19, 2011

Another Chinese Conglomerate Linuo decides to build a massive gigawatt scale Solar Panel factory

While Chinese pure play solar panels companies have already captured a majority of the global solar module market,the entry of newer Chinese players into the solar energy market refused to stop.China's 5 largest state owned utilities have already made their presence felt in the Chinese domestic solar installation market by bidding extremely low to win projects under the Chinese Solar Subsidy program.Automotive companies like BYD have also announced a big investment into solar panel manufacturing while Hanlong and Bluestar Groups have decided to invest in the CPV and Polysilicon sectors respectively.
March 19, 2011

List of India Machinery/Capital Goods/Engineering Manufacturers/Stocks – Set to Capitalize on Infra Growth

India's Economy is being hampered in its growth trajectory by lack of infrastructure which is leading to supply side problems.India suffers woefully from a lack of roads,electricity,ports etc. and almost a trillion dollars is going to be spent in the next few years as demand outstrips supply.India's Machinery and Capital Goods Industry is set to capitalize on this strong growth and is already seeing massive orders which are 2-3 years worth of their annual revenue.While the stock valuations of the capital goods equipment manufacturers has come down a bit from the heavy days of 2008,they are still quite high reflecting the strong growth potential.India's Engineering Industry is also composed of a number of smaller manufacturers that export light engineering equipment worth several billion dollars mostly to developing countries.India's Machinery Sector is composed of a mix of government owned and private companies as well as the giant capital goods MCN conglomerates like Areva and others.Here is a list of the major Indian equipment manufacturers.
March 19, 2011

Germany Solar Energy Market World's Biggest – Green Subsidies fuel growth German Photovoltaic Panel,Cell,Inverter Manufacturers

German's Solar Energy Market is the biggest in the world by a fair margin.Germany installed almost 6 gigawatts of solar panels in 2010 taking the total installed capacity to almost 16 GW which is 40% of the world's total installed solar capacity.Note Germany's Photovoltaic Solar Electricity now forms almost 10-15% of the total electricity production in the country at peak time.Note Germany's solar industry got a renewed boost when 7 old nuclear plants were shutdown following Japan's Fukushima Nuclear Disaster recently.Previously Germany had decided to extend the operating life of its Nuclear Plants despite stiff opposition.Germany Solar Subsidy which is framed under the Renewable Energy EEG law has made Germany one of the world's leaders in Wind,Solar and Biomass Energy.Germany's Manufacturing Industry has benefited from the strong domestic market with many of the world's top solar panel companies located there.Solar equipment,inverters and cell companies are also present in large numbers.Recently Germany amended its Feed in Tariff Law to slowdown the exponential growth in solar panel installations.This is over and above the regular reduction in solar subsidies done each year.
March 14, 2011

Korean Solar Energy Set to Explode due to the Greenest Government and Chaebols Hanwha,Hyundai,Posco,Samsung,LG

The South Korean Government is the Greenest government in the world without a doubt.The Korean government not only implement the biggest green stimulus but has also heavily promoted the use of Green Industry in Korea and amongst its industries.As a result South Korean Chaebols like Samsung,LG,Hanwha,Hyundai are making massive investments into Wind,Solar,Tidal,Nuclear Energy and Elective Vehicles,Batteries etc.A common theme running across these companies is their strong investments into the crystalline silicon solar supply chain.Hanwha has already become one of the biggest manufacturers of solar panels in the world by acquiring Chinese producer Solarfun while OCI Chemicals is set to become the biggest producer of polysilicon in the world.South Korea has also one of the most generous Solar Feed in Tariff Programs in the world to encourage solar panel installation in the country.While the subsidy ran into a hiccup,Korean Solar Energy is set to grow again as the government pushes Solar Energy Strongly.Here are a list of the major Korean Solar Companies.
March 10, 2011

List of Top Wind Power/Turbine Companies/Stocks – Chinese Rising

Wind Turbine (WTG) Companies are increasingly facing competition from a host of new entrants into the industry.The dominants firms like Vestas,Gamesa,GE,Siemens and Suzlon have seen their stock prices fall steeply due to declining revenues and margins.A number of Giant Industrial Firms have entered the Wind Energy Industry to diversify from the slow growth in their own sectors.Korean Shipbuilders have invested heavily in the Wind Turbine Manufacturing en masse to take advantage of the secular growth of Wind Energy.Chinese companies have risen from virtually nothing 5 years ago to become Top 5 Global Wind Energy Players.The Chinese companies have seen massive growth on the back of a strongly growing domestic market.China which now accounts of 50% of the world Wind Turbine market in 2010 is expected to see continued strong growth with the Chinese government setting a target of more than 100 GW by 2015.Here is a list of the major Wind Power Companies in the World.
March 10, 2011

Solar Stocks 2011 (First Solar Stock,Chinese Solar Energy Stocks,Solar ETFs) List in US,Europe,Asia Stock Markets – Good time to Buy

Solar Companies have proliferated in the last decade as the Solar Energy Industry has seen a 50% CAGR in the past 10 years exploding by almost […]
March 8, 2011

India's Major Construction/EPC/Infrastructure Companies (L&T,HCC,IVRCL,NCC,JP,Gammon)- Facing Tough Times Temporarily?

India is set to see a massive infrastructure capex cycle over the next decade as the existing infrastructure fails to support India's massive population.$500 Billion is expected to be spent in India's next 5 year plan with expenditure concentrated on roads,railways,ports,water,power,transportation etc.Capital Goods,Construction and Real Estate Companies will benefit hugely from this capex cycle.A Number of Companies have been raising capital from the Indian Stock Markets as India requires massive amounts of capital to fund its ambitious growth plans. Here is the list of top construction companies in India on the basis of their tie-ups with their international counterparts, technological advancements, generating money from the market to trigger their expansion plans and for establishing an entire township in the wastelands and making it the hottest commercial destination.Note Infrastructure companies in recent days have taken a massive beating falling to their 2008 Lehman lows.This is due the the numerous scams hitting the country,delays due to land acquisition,high interest rates and slow execution.However the long term potential of these construction/EPC companies in India remains excellent due to the massive investments.
March 8, 2011

Japan Solar Energy – Future Growth driven by METI and 7 Zaibatsus (Sharp,Panasonic,Mitsubishi,Honda,Mitsui,Toshiba,Kyocera)

Solar Energy in Japan has a long future dating back to 1994 when the government introduced capital subsidies to boost solar energy installations on rooftops.Till 2004,Japan was the largest solar market in the world after which it was overtaken by Germany.After 2004,the growth in the solar industry tapered off as the government reduced the subsidies for solar panels to almost zero.The huge domestic market gave rise to Japanese companies like Sharp,Mitsubishi,Kyocera,Panasonic-Sanyo become top solar panel producers in the world.However the low cost Chinese solar module producers have pushed back most of the Japanese companies.Since the last year,the Japanese government has again started giving generous solar subsidies and feed in tariff to boost the renewable energy production in the country which remains far off targets.This has led Japan to become the top non-European market after USA and the growth seems set to continue in the future as well.Japan has relatively low installations costs and is much nearer to grid parity.Also lack of wind energy makes solar energy more attractive as a renewable energy choice.While large scale solar installations in Japan are almsot absent,there remain large numbers of rooftop solar installations.
March 2, 2011

List of Top MNC Conglomerates (Toshiba,LG,TSMC,GE) getting into Solar Energy- Growing Continuously

While the major solar energy companies are expanding rapidly as the solar industry grew by almost 150% in 2010,a number of non-solar MNCs have gotten into this sector.The massive growth of solar industry which has been vastly underestimated by policymaker and analysts have not been hidden from these giant companies.While a number of these companies have been present since a long time,some are entering the growing solar energy field for the first time.Some like BP have lost the plot and become minor players despite being top companies a few years ago.Shell has totally left the solar energy field selling its plant to Motech.Asian conglomerates and semiconductor companies have been the most aggressive in entering this area.Chemical companies too have shown interest in building polysilicon plants which build on their core competence.Others have entered the Solar Thermal Energy Field which reinforces their traditional strengths in building power plants and EPC work.Here is list of the top non-solar companies entering the solar sector.
March 1, 2011

List of Top Solar Thermal/Concentrated Solar Power(CSP) Companies – Under Threat from Solar PV

Solar Thermal Technology has been facing tough competition from its sister Solar PV Technology in recent times.Despite strong government subsidies and support,numerous drawbacks have contributed to this Technology losing out to Solar PV in a number of projects in the US notably by Tessera.However a number of startups and big conglomerates continue to make huge investments in this technology.Spain and US are leaders in implementation of this Solar Technology type,however others like India and China are to building CSP plants as their energy needs continue to grow.Note like Solar PV,there are a number of different technology types for CSP like Power Tower,Parabolic Troughs,linear fresnel technology and Stirling Engines.Here is a list of the most important Solar Thermal Companies (Technology Providers cum Project Developers)
February 16, 2011

Samsung enters Polysilicon in JV with MEMC similar to LCD Glass JV with Corning and nd Wafers JV with Wacker

Semiconductor and Electronics Giant Samsung is entering into production of polysilicon setting up a 10,000 ton plant in an equal JV with US Poly Producer MEMC.The plant will be set up in South Korea and will go onstream by 2013 as it takes around 2 years to set up a plant.Note Samsung had recently started production solar crystalline silicon solar panels which uses polysilicon as raw material.Samsung has a strategy for manufacturing crucial raw materials inhouse for its different product lines.For example Samsung has a multi billion dollar JV with Corning to manufacture LCD glass in South Korea and a JV to make wafers for semiconductors with Wacker.It uses the expertise and technology of its JV partners to get into raw material production.The JV partners get a huge customer for their products and are happy to go along with Samsung in these Joint Ventures.
May 20, 2010

Another Japanese Zaibatsu NEC Plans a Major Foray in the Green Industry

Conglomerates across the world have started signaling their attention to become big players in the Green Industry which is predicted to be one of the biggest […]
May 16, 2010

Top Five Green Investments for the Risk Averse Investor

Investing in Green stocks  is fraught with a lot of risk due to the following factors The demand and supply can fluctuate a lot as the […]