Honda
August 28, 2012
Chinese Economy China is one of the biggest mysteries for investors and economists with most data emanating from China rated suspect even by the Chinese leaders […]
June 21, 2012
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 19, 2012
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 […]
February 7, 2012
It is not widely known that ,Honda is a manufacturers of CIGs thin film solar panels alongwith the likes of TMSC, Solar Frontier and others. Honda has been in the solar panel manufacturing business of the last 3-4 years though its capacity remains small and its panels not very efficient. Like many conglomerates , Honda too entered the solar industry during the boom times and now would be finding the going hard . Note a number of Japanese solar companies have existed the business like Sumco and others. However Honda which remains a very marginal player in the global solar business is not going away . Instead it is using its solar panels to power its own dealerships and auto plants.
July 5, 2011
Samsung had decided a couple of years ago that it wants to be a major player in the Green Industry and has lined up billions of dollars to invest in solar and wind energy over the next decade.The company is already starting up massive solar panel plants and wind turbine factories as it hopes to capture a large chunk of the clean technology industry.Samsung is a global leader in the Semiconductor area which it is trying to reinforce by huge capital expenditure.Samsung has strong expertise in the areas of LCD and Memory manufacturing and technology, which it can easily leverage to develop Solar Thin Film technology.However,Samsung is focusing its efforts on high efficiency Crystalline Solar Technology.It recently announced a big investment commitment to Ontario in offshore wind and solar manufacturing and generation.The company wants to rival conglomerates like GE and Siemens which already have a large presence in wind,solar and smart grid technologies
July 4, 2011
Sharp,the Japanese Zaibatsu known more for its Electronics Products is also the world’s No 1 Company in terms Solar Module Revenues.Sharp has been the solar world leader since the past 4-5 years despite stiff competition recently from upcoming Chinese Crystalline Solar (c-Si) players and Thin Film Leader First SolarSharp’s c-Si division is not cost competitive with the Chinese and Taiwanese companies as its cost structure is almost 30-40% higher than the cheapest Chinese producers.Though the quality of Sharp’s crystalline silicon modules is considered much better,the cost difference has become too big in a rapidly commoditizing industry.While companies like Masdar are abandoning their Thin Film plans,Sharp has started shipping a-Si modules from its 1 GW capacity plant in Sakai.With its established distribution strengths and technological abilities in LCD Technology,Sharp is one company that can survive the c-Si onslaught.
March 8, 2011
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
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.
November 18, 2010
Toyota is a Leader in Hybrid Vehicles with its iconic Prius the biggest selling Hybrid Car by Far.Toyota has been cautious about the growing rush into the Electric Vehicle Category.It has tied up with the much hyped up US Startup Tesla to introduce an EV RAV4,however its concentrating its energies on the Hybrid Car Market.Note another Japanese Automajor Honda is putting its bet on the Hybrid Segment of the Green Vehicle Market.The Economics of the Electric Vehicle Market as well as its Carbon Footprint is suspect despite all the media hoopla being created around it.While the Competition has increased substantially around both the EV market and its allied Battery Sector,the profits are far off.Hitachi has forecast losses for the next 2-3 years as China and USA compete to create national champions in the EV sector with Obama aiming for a 40% global marketshare .
October 12, 2010
Saint Gobain like Semiconductor Giant TSMC is betting on Copper Indium Gallium Selenium (CIGs) Technology rather than the mainstream crystalline silicon technology.CIGs is getting the most significant investments these days compared to other thin film technology.Yesterday Ascent Solar (ASTI) got an IEC certification for its flexible modules which would enable it to target the mainstream rooftop market from niche applications earlier.Miasole has improved the efficiency and costs of it CIGs greatly while Nanosolar can't be counted out because of its strong backers.Solyndra however remains mostly in the shadows despite around $1 billion in private investment.Stion is another strong contender partnering with TSMC and also thinking of opening a plant in Taiwan on its own as well.Saint Gobain is already a big player in the solar market as it suppliers glass to a lot of solar companies for their modules.Getting into panel manufacturing will further allow it to get a foothold of this new potentially giant industry.Du Pont,Dow Chemicals,Corning all have considerable presence in the solar equipment market as well.
October 7, 2010
Mazda the Japanese Automobile Producer has decided to double the R&D spending on EcoFriendly Vehicles over the next 5 years.The Company has decided to up the percentage spend on Green Automobile Technology to 40% by 2015 from 20% at present.This implies almost $450 million in annual R&D spend on Hybrid and Electric Vehicles.Mazda has been a latecomer to the new generation Green Automobiles.Like Honda,Mazda trails Toyota and Nissan in the EV and Hybrid Car Technology.
Mazda has already tied up with Toyota to fast track the development of Hybrid Vehicles,the first one which it plans to introduce by 2013.Note Honda and Toyota have already introduced Hybrid Cars and Mazda will face tough competition as it is a latecomer to the Hybrid Party.Other AutoMakers around the world like Hyundai,GM,Ford,Geely,BYD are already well on the way to introducing Green Cars.
August 12, 2010
Honda's modules have an efficiency of 11.6% which seems lower than those claimed by the TSMC-Stion,Miasole and Q-Cells.These companies are claiming 13% efficiency though none of these companies have large scale commercial production as of now.Q-Cells and Miasole are at the head of the CIGs pack with companies like Nanosolar,Solyndra,Solar Frontier and TSMC-Stion closely following.CIGs technology is said to be the best thin film technology better than the Cd-Te technology used by First Solar and a-Si technology used by Sharp and the now bankrupt Applied Materials thin film division.