Government
March 5, 2011
France has had a rocky relationship with solar energy.Unlike other European countries France gets a huge amount of electricity from renewable sources namely nuclear energy.Its electricity prices are one of the lowest and it even exports electricity to neighbors.So the driver for increasing solar electricity is quite low in France compared to others like Spain and Italy.However France has seen a massive boom in solar installations in 2010 making it the 7th largest market in the world.France installed over 720 MW of solar in 2010 and faces a massive backlog of applications.The government got overwhelmed and called a sudden stop to all applications.The French government stupidly blamed Chinese solar panels for the solar deluge when it was its faulty solar Feed in Tariff Policy which was too generous.
March 5, 2011
Note China's Solar Market is a highly competitive and protected one with outside solar companies hardly having any presence similar to Japan's market.First Solar which signed a massive gigawatt contract to build a plant in Ordos has seen only delays as Chinese solar manufacturers opposed the plant.First Solar is still trying to build the plant signing a new JV with one of China's 5 big utilities.eSolar another CSP company got a contract to build a plant with China but till date construction does not seem to have begun there also.The Chinese government seems mostly interested in high-tech technology (First Solar,eSolar) rather than run of the mill players.Even these technology companies have failed to make much headway.Remains to be seen whether SkyFuel Succeeds.
March 5, 2011
I have been consistently writing that Solar PV has leapfrogged far ahead of Solar Thermal Technology in the last couple of years.The entry of the low cost Chinese with huge scale and the fall in polysilicon costs have suddenly made the future survival of Solar Thermal Technology suspect.The Solar Thermal Advantages of energy storage is also overrated because it is cheaper to add energy storage to Solar PV as the following article shows.Note Solar PV has many other advantages of Solar Thermal anyway.The Rapidly Declining Costs of Solar PV in fact pose a massive threat to all other forms of Solar Technology including Thin Film which has recently seen a number of players gone bankrupt.The recent conversion of Solar Thermal Plants by Tessera,the losses being made by Solar Millenium due to delays are further evidence of the decline and possible obsolescence of Solar Thermal Technology.
March 5, 2011
Indian Privately Owned Power Utilities are furiously expanding their capacities as India looks to treble its Power Generation Capacity in the next decade.The major power companies like Adani Power and Reliance Power are giving Tata Power a tough fight for the position of the biggest private Indian Utility.While these companies cannot hope to overtake state owned giant NTPC in this decade,they may do so in the next one.Note some of these companies are expected to grow almost 20 times in the next 10 years.Here are the main contenders
Note most of the power plants being built in India are coal ones with the power providers aggressively buying up coal mines in Indonesia,Australia and South Africa to increase fuel security.However in case of any global disruptions,India remains very vulnerable.However India's policymakers are sleeping on this issue.It makes more sense to concentrate on those sources whose fuel security is high such as solar and wind power.Coal also faces the prospect of high carbon taxation as global warming becomes acute.Environmental issues related to power plants has already resulted in some being halted as local citizens agitate against the thermal plant's negative effects on livelihoods and health.
March 4, 2011
The Indian Government’s launch of the ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission(JNNSM) was done with much fanfare with a target of reaching 20 GW of Solar Capacity by 2022 under 3 phases from the 81 MW currently.While the government had the best intentions and had laid down a well defined 10 year plan with subsidy support for both Solar Thermal and Solar PV Technology,it has already run into problems.Due to high interest the government went in for bidding of projects which led to irrationally low bidding from unknown firms.This has put the entire exercise in question with the the biggest private utility saying JNNSM is a failure.Without extensions of deadlines it looks highly unlikely whether the 37 winners will actually put up the plants.
March 4, 2011
Income Inequality and unemployment amongst white collar workers is a massive growing under-appreciated problem in India and China.These countries despite growing tremendously have built in severe distortions which are only becoming bigger by the day.Graduates in both countries increasingly find a massive demand deficit for their services while income inequality grows bigger as billionaires build billion dollar houses amidst people earning less than $2 day.
March 4, 2011
Corruption in India seems to be throwing up a new character everyday with almost all the major institutions - judiciary,executive,corporates,bureaucrats,media being tainted by it.The latest to join the corruption bandwagon is the US Food MNC Kraft specifically its subsidiary Cadbury.Note Carbury is one the biggest chocolate brands in India and has been present in the Indian market for a long time.The Corruption Charges are said to be in minor in nature as SEC is probing whether Cadbury gave bribes to set up a manufacturing plant in India.I would be surprised if they managed to set up a plant in India without giving a bribe.India's bureaucrats are notoriously corrupt and the venality has only increased despite numerous scams and scandals being exposed.
March 4, 2011
Solar Inverters are a crucial component of the overall solar system accounting for around 10% of the overall costs.Solar inverters connect the solar panels to the grid converting the DC to AC which is used by the grid.Solar inverters have become highly sophisticated with features like optimization and monitoring etc.The efficiency of solar inverters are a major factor in their purchase as well as the quality and reliability.Inverters comes in various sizes and can be as large as 1 MW for utility applications.Unlike Solar Panels,the Solar Inverter Market is much less crowded though competition is growing as the size of the market increases rapidly.The ~$2.1 billion market in 2009 with 7 GW of installations has increased by more than 130% to around $5 billion in 2010 as the solar panel demand globally increased to around 17 GW.Note Solar Inverter Companies have done much better as competition is much lower and the annual price declines in solar inverters has been much lower at around 10% compared to the 50% decline in solar panel in the last 2-3 years.Here is a list of the major solar power inverter companies
March 3, 2011
German Development Bank Kfw which is owned by the German government is planning to invest 800 million Euros in Indian Renewable Energy Sector.Note Kfw is one of the biggest funding institutions in Germany for renewable energy projects giving concessional interest rates.The Bank will use its extensive expertise in the alternative energy and energy efficiency areas to extend its business in India as well.Renewable Energy in India is expected to see a massive expansion in the next decade and will require massive amounts of debt and equity.Kfw alongwith other developmental institutions like ADB and World Bank have a big role to play.Note Debt is quite expensive in India and these institutions provide loans at a much cheaper rate making renewable energy projects viable.ADB has already formed a JV with NTPC and is looking to rescue JNNSM as well.IFC is funding numerous clean projects in India following its developmental mandate as well.
March 3, 2011
India may uses the planned $500 million to $1 Billion in Coal Taxes it expects to generate every year to build transmission lines for renewable energy.Note one of the main impediments for renewable energy is the lack of transmission capability on part of utilities to move clean energy from remote areas to urban demand centres.USA faces an acute problem in this regard and faces a massive debate on how to fund the power grid from windy areas to cities.India too faces a problem in this regard as renewable energy plants mainly wind and solar are to built in remote locations.Note India's Power Grid is very inadequate as large parts of the country lack electricity due to lack of distribution networks.
March 3, 2011
India is set to see a massive growth in solar energy in the next decade with the 81 MW of Solar Capacity expected to reach at least 20000 MW by 2022 if not more.India's JNNSM Policy and push for renewable energy by states like Gujarat,Maharashtra and Rajasthan should see massive investments in solar PV installation.While there are already solar cell and panel production,India lacks a strong base for manufacture of solar inverters which can cost upto 10% of the total cost of a solar project.
March 3, 2011
Alternative Energy in India saw significant growth in 2010 with the last 9 months of the year seeing capacity additions of 1800 MW which is almost 10% of the total installed capacity of 18500 MW.The growth in renewable energy was led by Wind Energy which forms almost 70% of the total renewable energy capacity in the country at around 13500 MW.The strong incentives given by both state and central government has led to the sharp growth of wind energy.Note Wind Energy is quite close to Gas based electricity price.India Needs at least 68 GW of Renewable Energy Capacity by 2020 to meet its RPS target of 15% set by CERC (note this is capacity only not hours of electricity).
March 3, 2011
Juwi,the German Renewable Energy EPC Company is setting up base in India following on the footsteps of other major Europeans companies Scott and Abengoa.Juwi is one of the largest solar EPC companies in the world with 800 million Euros in Revenues in 2010 and with operations in 15 countries.Note India's solar energy opportunity is one of the biggest in the 21st century and the number of solar companies has exploded.Other International Solar EPC Companies and Solar System Integrators like SunEdison have made major commitments to the Indian market.Juwi is looking at both setting up turnkey plants as well as O&M.Indian domestic companies suffer from a lack of experience in the solar development sector and entry of international companies should help disseminate best practices in solar project development and execution.
March 2, 2011
India's Electricity is set to see a huge boom as the 8-9% economic growth rates require massive amounts of energy.India is planning to nearly treble its electricity capacity to almost 450 GW by 2020 from around 160 GW now which means a yearly addition of nearly 23 GW in the next decade.Currently India’s Electricity comes mostly from Coal and Hydro Based Energy.Almost 50% of Energy Requirements and 53% of the Electricity is generated from Coal.Despite Coal being the the Dirtiest Form of Energy,India has got little choice in the matter.Most of India’s upcoming Electricity Plants are based on Coal.Hydro Energy is generated mostly from India’s Northern Himalayan States.Renewable Energy forms only 7.7% of the Capacity with around 11 GW of the 16 GW from Wind Energy.Nuclear Energy is around 3% of the total capacity at around 4.5 GW.Here are the list of the major power utilities in the country which is currently dominated by the state run PSUs.However the next decade should see the rise of private electricity companies.
March 2, 2011
Polysilicon or refined silicon is the raw material behind most of the world's consumer electronics.Polysilicon is used to make both solar and semiconductor silicon wafers.Silicon wafers are used in making chips which are used by the Intels and Samsungs of the world while Solar Wafers are used in making solar crystalline panels used in generating electricity from the sun.Most of the world's major solar energy companies used c-Si Technology in making solar panels.Polysilicon is an energy intensive process which requires cheap electricity.The polysilicon is produced mostly in the western countries like Japan,USA and Germany now.However the rise of solar panel producers in Asia has given rise to large volume Asian producers of polysilicon as well.Note Polysilicon production is concentrated in the hands of 8-9 companies unlike solar panel production which is done by hundreds of companies.This is a capital intensive process and requires around 2 years to complete a single plant.Semiconductors require higher purity levels of Polysilicon than the solar industry.The massive increase in demand from the solar industry has led to massive growth in poly production.Here are a list of the main polysilicon companies in the world
March 1, 2011
India's Transport Policy is an unmitigated disaster with traffic congestion frequently killing people.The lack of roads and traffic planning has made transport in Indian cities a daily monstrous headache for commuters.The use of modern transport which does not cause pollution and reduces congestion is the need of the hour.The government seems to be moving slowly in that direction.While MNRE had announced a capital subsidy for Green Transport earlier,the Finance Minister cut excise and custom duties on Green Vehicles as well.India's Union Budget did not have much for the Green Industry except a piffling Rs 200 crore fund for the environment and the cuts of duties for EVs.
March 1, 2011
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 28, 2011
The Indian Stock Market Regulator SEBI has been seen doing nothing against blatant market manipulation and stock rigging scams.Mid cap and Small Cap Stocks are havens for rigging by promoters and stock brokers as SEBI seemingly does nothing.Even in the primary market,junk IPOs rule the roost with even the recent correction failing to see crap stocks making a debut (Sudar Garmets,Fineotex,Omkar etc.).To anyone with a modicum of common sense it is apparent that such low quality companies could not raise money without manipulating the markets.However SEBI in its infinite wisdom remains blind to this.Stock brokers like Ashika,Dangi continue to operate unimpeded despite being indicted for scamming.Even reputed stock brokers are involved in underhand and shady dealings.However SEBI does nothing indirectly encouraging fleecing of small and retail investors.Not that big investors like Goldman,GMO are immune to fly by night operators as well.
February 28, 2011
Corruption in India has taken massive proportions with a new scam being unearthed almost every day .However this has not metered the architects of corruption in India from continuing their looting spree.While the 2G Telecom Scam throws up new looting revelations,newer corruption scams are also competing for newspaper inches.Investing in the Indian stock markets is at best a hazardous activity with most of the promoters trying to fleece shareholders.Mid cap and small cap scams have already resulted in massive losses.Now investing in India's largest companies belonging to the main Nifty Index has also become dangerous.While the scam related to the ADAG Group has already resulted in 80-90% fall from the peaks of the companies of this group,others are joining in.Nalco which is a government owned integrated aluminum producer was thought to be one of the safest companies to invest in.However even this company has fallen.The CEO of the company was found taking bribes in the form of gold bricks in return for favors.
February 21, 2011
China based GCL Poly is the biggest solar wafer producer in the world wresting the crown from LDK Solar in 2010.GCL Poly is now set to grow even bigger in 2011 raising its wafer capacity almost 85% making it No.1 by far.Note solar wafers are made up of polysilicon and used as raw materials for making solar cells which generate electricity from the sun.They are very similar to semiconductor wafers which are used to make the basic building blocks for electronics.GCL Poly has seen a massive rise from 2010 when it started to producer solar wafers.The company's strategy of setting up plants near its major customers have landed it major deals and lower the cost in the supply chain.
February 19, 2011
The CleanTech and Green Theme is being increasingly used by fraudsters and fly by night operators in the stock market.CO2 Tech Ltd.,a Pink Sheets Company has […]
February 18, 2011
Note it would not be surprising if the allegations were true as the Indian stock market is a pump and dump heaven of IPOs with blatant manipulation by market operators.Price Rigging Rings are also present with mid cap and small cap scams happening with an alarming regularity.With Corruption touching a new high,the Supreme Court has taken over the investigation of the Telecom Scam Probe from the Government.This has led the CBI which is mostly a ruling party puppet to question some top billionaires and politicians.However it remains to be seen if some of the top fish are caught or just some small scapegoats are imprisoned.
February 18, 2011
China has come under a lot of fire for its proectionist trade policies from mulitnational corporations like Siemens,GE,Google as well as its major trading partners.One of the bones of contention is its export restrictions on crucial minerals like zinc,lead,cadmium, gold, indium, iron ore, lime, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, phosphate, salt, tin, tungsten, vanadium and zinc.China is surprisingly the biggest producer of these minerals and has been hoarding these minerals.Note China is the biggest importer of minerals like copper,coal,iron ore etc. so its hoarding is surprising.This action by China came under the scanner when it restricted the export of rare earth minerals over a small dispute with Japan.This resulted in alarm bells ringing in Europe,USA and Japan.These countries scurried for alternative sources of these crucial REE in other places as China controlled more than 95% of the world's supply.
February 18, 2011
Solar Energy is the fastest growing renewable energy source in the world and has shown tremendous growth in the last 2-3 years.This has been driven by a more than 50% decline in Solar PV costs which continues to decline further.With further increase in energy prices,Solar Power is becoming closer and closer to retail electricity price.Not only is the price declining,solar power is clean energy a most valuable feature in these days of accelerating climate change.Solar Energy has already reached grid parity in places like Italy and Hawaii and will do so in more places in the coming 2-3 years.The industry is a dynamic one and the list of top solar companies can change quickly.Rapid Technology Change and Fast Declining Costs have pushed out most of the Top 10 companies of 5 years ago and brought in new ones mainly Chinese.Here is a list of the Top Solar Panel Producers in the World.
February 18, 2011
India too needs to be worried from these missile developments.Note the Defence Minister had said that he was concerned from the rapid modernisation of China's military forces but was not overtly worried.I think its time for him to worry as China's armed forces show massive technological improvement.Note China has the largest military force in the world in terms of number but it lags way behind in technology compared to the West.However that is changing with growth of the Chinese Economy the 2nd biggest in the world.China and Indian relations have been quite tense of late with China raising the ante on a number of issues.China has been placing missiles in Tibet while India is deploying fighter aircraft and troops near its borders with China.
February 18, 2011
Leading GHG emitter and Biggest Coal Exporter Australia Kills Most Green Program using Floods Excuse
Australia is the biggest exporter of coal in the world and one of the leading emitter of GHG emissions.Its huge mining industry generate tons of carbon and earns billions for the Australian Treasury.However despite its leading role in global warming,Australia has almost no subsidies for green energy.The federal government has conveniently used the recent Queensland Floods to cut off a number of Green Programs such as Green Car Innovation Fund, Cleaner Car Rebate Scheme, the Carbon Capture and Storage Flagships and Solar Flagships, the Solar Hot Water Rebate, Green Start Program, Solar Homes and Communities Plan.The Solar Flagships Program which was supposed to generate around 1 GW of Solar Energy has also been killed.Note Australia generate 92% of its electricity from Fossil Fuel which is quite high compared to other developed countries.
February 17, 2011
Geothermal Energy in India is non existent with not a single functioning plant as of 2011.However potential for this renewable energy exists in a number of sites in India with a potential of around 10 GW.With the Indian government planning to come out with a draft policy to develop geothermal energy by March 2011,major companies are gearing up to exploit this alternative energy resource.Note India has massive energy needs and with a 15% energy requirement from clean sources by 2020,it will need to develop all renewable sources.Note India already has a well developed Wind Energy Industry and has one of the fasted growing Solar Power Industry in the world with a massive future growth potential.Geothermal Energy is regarded as a poor cousin to its more glamorous cousins Wind and Solar.However Geothermal Energy possesses one attribute that the others do not.Its 24 hour generation capability is a massive plus compared to the intermittent nature of Wind and Solar Energy.However long project development time and massive capital investments have deterred fast growth in geothermal energy in the world.However some countries like Iceland,Indonesia,Philippines and USA have a strong geothermal energy industry.
February 16, 2011
Solar Panel Prices have decreased at a jaw dropping 50% in the last 2 years and will probably decrease 10-15% more in 2011.That is an astounding number given the increasing energy and electricity prices being faced around the globe.Though solar energy is costlier than other forms of energy,it starts on a low base.With 2010 solar growth pegged at more than 100% and 16 GW of solar panels installed,Solar Energy is starting to become more mainstream.Like Solar,the entry of Chinese players has decreased the cost of Wind Energy as well.Despite increasing input steel and copper prices,wind turbine prices have declined.Stiff competition amongst Chinese WTG companies has made the price of a Wind Turbine go as low as $600,000-700,000 in China.This has brought a depression in prices in other places in the world as well.
February 15, 2011
India's Environment Ministry Jairam Ramesh has been portrayed as the devil incarnate by the industrial lobbies as he has struck down various billion dollar realty, mining and power projects.First it was Vedanta's mining project in Orissa,then the Lavasa township in Pune and then power projects in Andhra Pradesh.While some of these infrastructure projects should go ahead with modifications,it has brought some regard for the environment.While some of the projects like the Jaitapur Nuclear Plant in Maharashtra were given the environmental go-ahead despite serious concerns raised by TISS and local citizens,the trampling of ecology by the corporate lobbies seems to have been curtailed.However India's growing economy and its massive energy needs cannot be kept at bay for long.
February 15, 2011
Solyndra is one of the most hyped solar starups which has managed to raise $1 billion in funding and coming out with surprisingly little for the money.Not only did it postpone its IPO but also shut down its first factory as pricess keep diving faster than it can cut costs.Brightsource Energy on the other hand seems to have a brighter future with its unique CSP technology.Also with backers like Alstom and Bechtel,it has the heavy engineering support to construct the massive 392 MW plant.Note other Solar Thermal startups like Ausra and Soliel Systems were bought up by giant engineering conglomerartes Areva and Siemens.Brightsource along with eSolar remain the only pureplay CSP companies still surviving.