Goldwind | Green World Investor

Reality Check for US Commerce Secretary – USA is already far behind China in Clean Energy

22 May, 2010

China,Goldwind,Sinovel,Solar Energy,USA,Wind Energy

The United States could fall behind China and other countries in clean energy technology unless Congress passes energy legislation, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said on Saturday- Reuters

While the Commerce Secretary is “only thinking” that the US could fall far behind ,The Reality is that US is already far behind in the Solar and Wind and is at risk of falling behind in the other newer sectors of the Green Industry as well.

USA is far behind China in Solar

USA has fallen far behind China in solar manufacturing despite Silicon Valley being the hotbed for technology innovation in solar . If it was not for First Solar, no US company would figure in the top 10 rankings by 2011 as the Chinese and Taiwanese use their low cost and processing skills to tighten their grip on the world market. Numerous startups like Miasole,Nanosolar,eSolar are in the process of moving from pilot to commercial production but the support from the government does not measure up . Evergreen Solar has given up on the US and shifted its manufacturing base to China while other technology innovators like Energy Conversion Devices are on their “deathbed”.Sunpower and First Solar the other major companies are trying to compete by expanding their facilities in Asia, retaining only a token presence in the US (less than 10% of their future capacity will be located in the US). Technology giant Applied Materials has shifted its manufacturing and R&D base to China as well. While all this is going on, US continues its petty politicking over the climate bill which ironically has support for “offshore drilling”

In Wind US is in a more pathetic condition

Except for GE , US does not have a single company in the top 10 turbine makers for wind. There does not exist a single large pure play wind turbine maker in the US. Despite US being the world’s largest wind market in 2009 , US hardly manufactures even 10% of the world’s wind turbines.In contrast Chinese wind makers like Sinovel,Goldwind ,APower are planning big foreign expansions making the dominant European companies like Vestas go into the red.

Energy Efficiency,Storage and other forms of Renewable Energy a Saving Grace

In the still nascent markets of Energy Efficiency ,Energy Storage and other forms of renewable energy like geothermal ,tidal ,biomass and nuclear energy the US still leads along with Europe, but the Chinese government has been proactively seeking investment in these areas as well. Its a matter of time that once these technologies cross the early adopter curve, companies in Asia will actively look to attain leadership here as well.Innovative companies like Ormat, Comverge,EnerNoc , Johnson Controls,A123 systems still give the leadership to the US in these areas.But unless they are given more government support and subsidies , you can see them moving off to Asia like the solar and semi companies like Evergreen,Applied Materials.

Summary

US is still the leader in technology innovation and R&D in the green technology area,however it is way behind in the manufacturing area.Its only a matter of time that the Asian countries develop the technology once they move further along the experience curve.Companies in the US like IBM,Applied and others have already shifted a large part of R&D to these countries.Unless US soon implements on a coherent long term policy to mitigate climate change and develop clean energy , it would fall too far behind to matter at all

Green IPO: Chinese Wind Heavyweight Goldwind gets approval for $1.5 billion Hong Kong Listing

17 May, 2010

China,Goldwind,Green IPO,Wind Energy

China has massively increased its wind installations to become the world’s second biggest market in 2009 . It has also managed to cultivate its local home grown industry to join the ranks of top 10 world turbine makers. Foreign dominance of China’s wind market has completely disappeared as the share had declined to 5%. Now Chinese wind equipment makers are spreading their wings outside their overcrowded home market with APower planning a massive wind farm in Texas.Both Sinovel and Goldwind which are the two largest wind equipment producers are planning IPOs to raise more capital and increase their visibility. Goldwind which was planning a HK listing since January has got regulatory approval to raise $1.5 billion in Hong Kong making it one of the biggest green offerings in the world this year .

China’s Longyuan Power Group Corp., the country’s biggest wind power producer managed a very successful IPO raising more than $2.6 billion in HongKong in December 2009 . 2 other big Chinese electricity utilities (Huaneng Group and Datang group) are thinking of raising money from the market as well by spinning off their renewable energy units.Would be interesting to see if China manages to dominate wind like it has done in solar.

Goldwind says China regulator approves HK listing – Reuters

Chinese wind power producer Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co said on Monday that China’s stock regulator had approved an offering of up to 454.59 million overseas shares, as it prepares for a Hong Kong IPO that could raise up to $1.5 billion.

The listing still requires approval from the Hong Kong exchange.Goldwind, which is already listed on the mainland’s Shenzhen stock exchange, said in October it planned to float shares in Hong Kong. China has sought to encourage expansion of renewable energy production

Will China Dominate Global Wind like it is dominating Solar ; Europeans bleed while Chinese capture marketshare

10 May, 2010

China,Goldwind,Sinovel,Solar Energy,Wind Energy

China’s rise in solar manufacturing has been nothing short of spectacular.From less than 5% of world marketshare it has gone to more than 50% in the current quarter.Some of its companies like Trina and Yingli are the lowest cost producers of solar modules in the world today.The Europeans like Solarworld and Q-Cells which were dominant until 2 years ago have been swept aside with Q-Cells bleeding red ink . Even in wind energy , China’s growth over the last 2-3 years has been awesome with more than 100% CAGR . It has helped in growing wind turbine manufacturers through domestic content requirements.Now that these companies have sufficient technology and are able to leverage their low cost advantages , China has removed the restrictions in Jan 2010 to attack other markets. Vestas the leading European turbine manufacturer like the solar makers has fallen into the red. The only way for these companies to survive is to move their manufacturing to Asia . Ultimately the technology will also follow ( Applied Materials has also move its R&D to Shanghai). Just like the semi and electronics industry,Europe will start looking like a marginal player in the global alternative energy industry. Despite strong domestic demand and policy support , the European industry has been outsmarted and outplayed by the Chinese.

China Longyuan to Spend $13 Billion to Lead Wind Power League – Bloomberg

China Longyuan Power Group Corp. plans to spend about 92 billion yuan ($13 billion) over the next five years to become the world’s No. 1 wind-power producer as global demand for clean energy increases.

The Hong Kong-listed company aims to install at least 16,000 megawatts of wind turbines in China and overseas by 2015, President Xie Changjun said in an interview after a climate conference in Beijing today.

China’s wind sector steps on the accelerator – Renewableenergymagazine

Sinovel and Goldwind, the two leading Chinese wind turbine manufacturers, have announced expansion plans, which include floatation on the stock market through Initial Public Offerings (IPO). The aim of both companies is to increase capital to construct more plants and boost sales both in China and abroad.

Dalian, the state holding company which has majority control over the shares of Sinovel, has confirmed its intention to generate 3.5 billion Yuan (approximately €0.4 billion) through an IPO of 10% of Sinovel’s shares on the Shanghai stock exchange.Meanwhile, Goldwind, licences and, since a year ago, owner of the Germany technology, vensys (used by Eozen, Enerwind amd ReGen Powetech), has confirmed to local press that it plans on floating on the Hong Kong stock exchange to generate around $36 million (€26 million) from the sale of up tom 15% of its share capital. The company explains that this is the first step to internationalise its business.

In turn, several sources report that Huangeng aims to collect €1.5 billion (€1.1 billion) from an IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Huaneng will use the funds to acquire new wind farms which, one observer reports, will include 550MW in the provinces of Hebei and Gansu.

Q-Cells Declares 2009 Loss of $1.8 Billion; CEO Resigns Amidst “Huge Loss of Confidence”- Greentech Media

Leading German cell producer Q-Cells has gone from weakness after weakness over the last 12 months, and someone had to pay. As things turned out, it happened to be the man at the top. CEO Anton Milner quit his job last Thursday, citing a “huge loss of confidence” on account of the company’s terrible 2009 results. The company declared a loss of 1.36 billion Euros ($1.84 billion) for 2009, compared to a net profit of 190 Euros (about $257 million) in 2008. It would be difficult to feign surprise at the outcome: the company had cut working hours for about 80 percent of its staff in April, later laid off 500 employees in August, and slashed its 2009 sales outlook no less than three times in six months. The question, however, remains: how did the number-one cell producer in the world in 2008 (see chart) virtually bleed itself dry? What follows is an attempt to provide some answers.

Vestas in red as competitive pressures increase in the Wind Industry

29 Apr, 2010

Goldwind,Green IPO,Renewable Energy,Sinovel,Vestas,Wind Energy

The Global Wind Industry increased by 31% in 2009 despite a bad year for the world economy boosted by the movement towards cleaner energy and the relatively good economics of wind compared to other renewables like solar energy. Despite this Vestas which is the world’s largest turbine maker reported a loss making quarter . I think Vestas will continue to lose ground due to competitive pressures from Chinese wind makers like Sinovel and Goldwind which have captured most of the orders in China the fastest growth market. Also Vestas is not strong in the USA which is the second largest market. With no compelling technology to beat the low cost Chinese players I think Vestas will continue to lose ground in the wind market.
Vestas Has Surprise Loss as Credit Crunch Cuts Orders – Businessweek

Vestas Wind Systems A/S, the world’s largest maker of wind turbines, reported an unexpected loss after tighter financing led customers to delay renewable- energy projects. The shares fell 4.6 percent. Vestas lost a net 82 million euros ($108 million) in the first quarter compared with profit of 56 million euros a year earlier

The order book was worth 2.9 billion euros at the end of the quarter compared with 4.9 billion euros at the same time a year earlier. Vestas installed 178 turbines with a combined capacity of 387 megawatts in the quarter compared with 490 turbines producing 885 megawatts in the same period of 2009.

Vestas will also increase 2010 investments by 400 million euros to 1 billion euros to help it speed up the introduction of its new V112-3.0 megawatt model, which works both on sea and land.

FPL Group Inc., the largest U.S. power company, said yesterday that it would build 600 megawatts to 850 megawatts of wind-energy plants this year, reducing its target from 1,000 megawatts previously. FPL cited low power prices and uncertainty regarding climate-change legislation.

Global installations of wind turbines this year will gain about 9 percent, adding 41 gigawatts to power capacity, Bloomberg New Energy Finance has estimated. That’s the equivalent of an investment of $65 billion and enough to power more than 12 million homes, according to data from the U.S. Department of Energy and the American Wind Energy Association.

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