Solar Power Companies in India Growing by the Day but a Long Way to Go

24 Oct, 2010
Energy,India,Siemens,Solar Energy,Suntech

Solar Power in India is the Biggest Opportunity of the 21st Century

Solar Power in India is growing at a rapid clip with the strong government support through the ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM).Rapidly Falling Costs,Massive Power Deficits,Huge Growing Energy Demand and Peak Oil all make Solar Energy in India  one of the biggest energy opportunities in the 21st Century.People are slowly recognizing this large Green Money Making Opportunity with companies like Suntech,Siemens and Trina Solar entering into partnership with local players.Suntech has tied up with independent power producer IPP while Siemens has tied up for solar thermal energy with the Adani Conglomerate.This is just the initial trickle with large foreign companies waiting to flood the Indian market.There have been some initial hiccups in Debt Financing of  Solar Energy in India but I expect the long term secular growth story to be unaffected. Solar Power Companies in India can be divided into various categories based on solar equipment manufacturing,independent power producer,renewable arms of large power companies etc.I have already covered the Top Solar Module Production Companies in my Solar Panels in India article.Here is the list once again.

Top 10  List of Major Solar Panel Domestic Companies

1) Tata BP Solar

2) Moser Baer

3) Solar Semiconductor

4) IndoSolar

5) Topsun Solar

6) Titan Energy

7) PLG Power

8 ) Maharishi Solar

9) Kotak Urja

10)Photon Energy Systems

Note there are some other solar module producers as well.Note most of these companies import solar cells which are the main technology differentiators as there is very little addition in solar module production part of the supply chain.

Major State Run Companies  entering Solar Energy Production

Besides Private Companies,Indian State Owned Companies known as Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) are also planning huge investments into the Solar Sector both as a social sector obligation and as a future investment.NTPC and BHEL are leading the charge with NTPC’s trading arm playing a crucial role in providing subsidies under JNNSM.

1) NTPC

2) BPCL

3) HPCL

4) IOC

5) ONGC

6) BHEL

7) BEL

8) Webel Solar

Note BHEL,BEL and Webel are planning/manufacturing solar equipment such as polysilicon,cells,modules while the other companies are planning to set up large scale solar plants in different states of India.

List of Major Solar Energy Supporting Indian States

Some Indian States have been heavily supportive of Solar Energy on their own.Rajasthan and Gujarat the 2 western most states of India with huge amounts of solar radiation have implemented solar subsides at the state level attracting massive investor interest .Other states like Punjab and Haryana are also trying to get their act together.Andhra Pradesh,Tamil Nadu,Maharashtra and West Bengal are the other major states to watch out for.Here is the list of states in the order of priority .

1) Gujarat

2) Rajasthan

3) Andhra Pradesh

4) Punjab

5) Tamil Nadu

6) Maharashtra

7)  West Bengal

8) Haryana

Summary

The Indian Solar Energy Market is attracting huge investor interest due to the massive potential.However none of the Indian solar manufacturing companies comes anywhere near world class in scale,technology or manufacturing prowess currently.That is not to say that solar companies in India can’t become  world beaters especially taking advantage of the huge domestic market that is going to develop soon.Note Indian Wind Energy Companies are also too small to be counted on the world stage except for Suzlon which seems to be hemorrhaging.There are numerous small and big private companies that are taking interest in setting up solar plants.However these companies are too small and numerous to be listed here..Solar Power Companies in India will continue to grow as their exists a lot of space for a number of players.However becoming big players on the world solar stage will take a long time for these companies.

Green Investing in India – Is it worth your money?

8 Jun, 2010
Energy,India,Suzlon

Green Investing in India has become a buzzword much as it has become in the rest of the world.However the Green Industry in India is at a nascent stage compared to other parts of the world .India does not figure in the Clean Technology race with Green Leadership being taken over by China with US ,Japan,South Korea and Europe in hot pursuit.It is not that India is totally bereft of Green Investing Opportunities but on a World Class level, India has still got a long way to go.

Wind Energy

Suzlon is/was the first World Class Green Company from India figuring in the top 5 Global Wind Turbine Makers . It made ambitious acquistions in Europe buying up German turbine producer Repower and Hansen Transmission at the Peak 2008 price levels.The Global Financial Crisis coupled with Execution problems has reduced to a bit player in the Wind Energy Market.It is languishing at 10% of its stock price peak with only faint hopes of a turnaround as it is still saddled with high debt .With the advent of Chinese heavyweights  Goldwind,Suzlon has little chances of winning its lost marketshare back.

Solar Energy

Like Suzlon,Moser Baer had ambitious plans in the Solar Energy field making investments left and right in Crystalline Silicon and Thin Film Solar.Also like Suzlon,its execution has fallen  far short of its ambitions.There are other companies like Tata BP Solar,Webel and others but they are not competitive on the world stage.The recent lobbying for protection from solar imports is clear proof of this fact.

Other Green Segments

India is almost non existent in other upcoming Green Industries of  Energy Efficiency,Energy Storage,Biofuels Clean Transportation etc.Most of the Technology and Equipment is imported from outside.There have been some innovative companies like Reva but these are exceptions which can be counted on fingers.Unlike its strengths in knowledge based sectors like Information Technology and Pharma,India still does not figure in Green Technology.

Green Investing Opportunities

The opportunities for Green Investing are  quite few at present with some upcoming Green IPOs and investing in listed companies like Suzlon,Moser Baer,Webel etc.However these investments are hardly lucrative relative to other booming sectors of the Indian Economy.Greater opportunities lie in the investing in Green Infrastructure like Hydro,Solar and Nuclear Power with substantial PE investments being made in this sector.In Summary,an investor would be much better off searching for “Greener Pastures” in countries other than India

Areva to invest in the Indian solar market

23 Apr, 2010
Areva,Concentrated Solar Thermal,India

With the Indian government showing its strong intent to install large amounts of solar 20 GW by 2020 and enacting a sort of FIT of 40c/KwH , everyday new companies are making an entry.

Areva the French capital goods giant is getting ready to supply thermal equipment to the Indian developers who must be frothing given the larget ROE on the solar projects.The $3-3.3mm/MW seems reasonable enough to generate large  returns.Let see how many of these MOUs translate into Megawatts.Note Areva bought solar thermal startup Ausra a few months ago when it was down in the dumps due to a  lack of capital .

From Reuters:

Areva Renewable, a unit of France’ Areva, is considering solar-thermal projects in India, its chief executive officer said on Friday.

“We are discussing it with at least 9 serious developers in India. We hope to close few MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) in the coming weeks,” Anil Srivastava told Reuters in an interview.

Most of the Indian power developers are discussing setting up 50 MW solar-thermal power stations and Areva would be able to offer these projects at a cost of $3 million-$3.3 million per megawatt, the U.S.-educated CEO said.

“If we were to make the plant today, we think we can achieve 70 percent localisation in India, and we can achieve up to 90 percent localisation going forward,” reducing that cost, he added.

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