Terra Firma,the multi billion pound Private Equity firm has continued its Renewable Energy Asset Buying Spree spending a monstrous 641 millino Euros to buy Rete Rinnovabile a solar plant owner and operator in Italy.The acquired company is a susdiary of Italian market grid operator Terna and owns around 150 MW solar capacity in Italy which witnessed a massive solar boom in 2010.The acquisition values 1 MW at 4.5 Euros which would be considered not an expensive price given the large returns available for Italian solar power assets which gets a generous government mandated feed in tariff.The solar power plants are well located near distribution end points which is not a surprise since the company was a subsidiary of the grid power operator.

Smart Grid as a Clean Technology Industry is gaining traction in the West and countries like China,South Korea .Smart Grid has become important to increase energy efficiency and integrate intermittent forms of renewable energy like solar and wind power.Smart Grid includes a number of concepts like the Smart Meter Infrastructure,Demand Response,Energy Monitoring etc.Note the Power […]

Renewable Energy is one of the most read about and discussed topics in the world however various misconceptions remain about the advantages and disadvantages of renewable energy.Note Renewable Energy is a a very large topic and encompasses many different alternative energy forms which have their own distinct pros and cons.A Better Way to understand and explain Renewable Energy would be to look at each different forms of Clean Energy like Solar,Wind,Nuclear,Hydro,Tidal,Biomass and Geothermal Energy.Renewable Energy itself compared to Fossil Fuel forms of Non-Renewable Energy has substantial advantages and some disadvantages as well the biggest of which is Cost.Also note Fossil Fuel Energy has got a massive established base,industry and lobby.

India’s GDP unlike that of other emerging developing countries has a bigger consumer percentage than investment.This is because India’s economic growth model has not followed the tradiotional export growth model of the other countries in Asia like China.This makes India more resilient to external shocks like the Lehman crisis and provides a more domestic orientation to growth.India has one of the fastest growing economics in the world and as the per capita income increase,consumer companies in India are reaping outsized rewards.India has a competitive consumer goods market with a number of domestic and international companies competing in multiple markets and segments.Some of the companies like HLL which is a subsidiary of the global consumer giant Unilever has become an Indian company all but in ownership.Note Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies are different from Consumer Durables companies.FMGC companies are what is known as Consumer Non-Discretionary Group of Companies.These Companies sell products of everyday use and are recession proof in the sense that the products sold by FMCG Manufacturers can’t be ignored even in times of economic recessions.

Economically also Solar Panels are starting to approach retail electricity prices in number of places in the world.Large scale solar power plants are already selling power at 10-15c/KwH which is lower than the retail electricity prices in most places.Still competition between solar panel manufacturers,improving technology and scale are making solar panel costs come down at a rapid pace.In fact Solar Panel prices have declined by more than 50% from 2008 end to 2010 and are expected to fall by an average rate of 10% in the coming years as well.However Solar Panels are seldom bought by the customers directly but are rather bought by the solar system installers/contractors.However its a good idea to know about the costs of solar panels and systems that you are paying for and not get fleeced by unscrupulous solar installers.

A crack in a concrete pit near the Reactor 2 of the Fukushima Plant has been found to be the source of leakage of highly radioactive seawater which was said to reach around 4585 times the legal limit.TEPCO had found the crack in a pit near the Reactor 2 which was leaking this dangerous seawater which was being used to cool the damaged nuclear reactors.An attempt to fill the crack in the pit by pouring concrete failed as the water made the sealing process through concrete impossible.Now a new polymer will be tried to seal the crack though it beats me why it did not occur to the engineers there that the water will make the process of pouring concrete fail.After almost 4 weeks since the nuclear crisis began in Japan operators of the plant are no closer to regaining control of damaged reactors, as fuel rods remain overheated and high levels of radiation are flowing into the sea.