China | Green World Investor

Offshore Wind Energy in China – 300x Growth in 10 years,List of Offshore Wind Companies and Subsidies

23 Jun, 2011

China installed almost 50% of the world’s wind power energy capacity in 2010 as its market exploded from almost nothing to around 18 GW.China’s massive energy needs and its growing emissions and pollution problems have led to strong tailwinds for the wind industry.This has also led to the growth of a massive domestic industry which has led to 8 Chinese Wind Turbine Producers among the top 15 global WTG suppliers.Now China is looking to make major inroads into offshore wind energy which is dominated by Europe.China has the only offshore wind farm in Asia off Shanghai and is looking to rapidly ramp up as its energy needs keep growing.With more than 70% of China’s electricity coming from dirty coal and the country already consuming 3 billion tons of coal a year,energy sources have to be diversified urgently.

China is now planning to set a target of 30 GW of Offshore Wind Energy by 2020 which means a 300x growth from its current installed base of only 100 MW.This will make it rival United Kingdom which aims to harvest massive amounts of electricity from its North Sea wind resource.Top Chinese Wind Energy Companies like Sinovel,Goldwind,Ming Yang have already developed or/are in the process of developing wind turbines of 5 MW capacity or more to target this fastest growing wind segment.Sinovel the largest wind energy company in the world has already supplied the wind turbine for the Shanghai farm.Note top offshore wind companies like Siemens,Vestas are already jostling to take a first mover advantage in this technologically complex segment.Even non traditional players like the Korean shipmakers Daewoo,Samsung,Hyundai as well as US Defence Major Northrup Gruman are also preparing to take a slice of this upcoming multi billion industry.

Chinese Wind Companies

Chinese companies have become the low cost leaders in the Wind Equipment Industry and sell much below Western competitors .Leading WTG companies from the West likeVestas and Gamesa are reeling from Chinese competition and slowdown in Western markets.Suzlon too has been affected as Korean shipbuilders and Chinese wind producers have become major players.

Note the technological complexities and capital required for offshore wind energy will naturally exlude the smaller wind turbine makers in China which are already facing bankruptcy due to hypercompetition,oversupply and price wars in the Chinese market.The government is also reducing subsidies for smaller companies which is making life even more tough.

Chinese Solar Subsidies

Like for Solar Energy,China will hold an auction for 1.5-2 GW of Offshore Wind Energy in end 2011 and the winners of the tender bids will be announced in 2012.The government is targeting for 5 GW of offshore wind energy by 2015.Note offshore wind

Top Global Offshore Wind Turbine Companies

1) Vestas – Vestas the largest Wind Turbine Company in the World has faced one setback after another.Stiff competition from China,Slowdown in Wind Energy Farms in the West and now Wind Blade Problems have formed a perfect storm for this company.However the company is the leading supplier of Offshore Wind Turbines and recently introduced a 5 MW offshore wind turbine with leading offshore wind Danish developer Dong Energy.

2)Siemens – The largest Green Company in the world,Siemens has a strong presence in the Wind Turbine Segment.Along with Vestas,Siemens has supplied more than 80% of the Offshore Wind Turbine to the European offshore wind market till date.Given its huge technological strengths in electrical equipment,power transmission and large project construction,Siemens is looking for a dominant role in the growing offshore wind market .

3) Gamesa (Spain) - Gamesa the Spanish Wind Turbine Producer and Wind Farm Operator has faced the worst year of its history in 2010.Like Vestas and Suzlon,2010 has been a cruel year for the Wind Industry in the Western Markets and the WTG Players dependent on those markets.Gamesa is leading a massive Spanish Research Effort to develop a colossal 15 MW Turbine meant for the fast growing offshore wind sector.But this is a long term plan with 2020 set as the target for the complete development of this new Turbine.The company has also tied up with Northrop Grumman to target the North American offshore wind market which has massive potential which is zero as of today.

4) Suzlon Energy is the biggest Indian Wind Energy Company by far with 4-5 Gigawatts of WTG Capacity per year.However Suzlon has languished in red ink since the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008.However things seem to be turning with a slew of orders particularly by Repower.Suzlon is looking to completely buy out its European Wind Turbine producer Repower. REpower Systems has won a contract from Belgian project development company C-Power to supply 48 turbines of the 6M type for the Thornton Bank offshore wind farm.The turbines have a total rated power generating capacity of about 295MW.Note Suzlon is also targeting the Indian offshore wind market which needs to install lots of wind energy to meet its RPS target of 15% by 2020.

Chinese Arm Flexing alarms Eastern Neighbors Japan,Vietnam and Philippines

21 Jun, 2011

China,Japan,South Korea,Taiwan

China does not have many friends in its neighborhood,in fact it does not have any friends with relations with most countries being quite tense.The only friends it has is a tinpot communist dictatorship North Korea which has managed to keep its citizens in the Stone Age and Pakistan which is well on its way to become a failed state with a suicide bombing a day.What is interesting is that China holds the world record for sharing borders with the maximum number of countries,so one would consider it prudent to hold good relations with a large number of them.On the contrary China has had tense relations with almost all of them with low level military incidents the order of the day.China has a very cagey relationship with India where tensions have risen all the time with numerous friction points like Tibet,Arunachal Pradesh,supplying Pakistan with arms and building ports in smaller countries.South Korea alleged cyberattack a few months ago from hackers close to the Chinese government as well.

With Taiwan China has perhaps the most tense relations despite a recent thaw with increasing trade and transport links.China considers Taiwan a part of its own sovereign state and has massive number of missiles pointed towards the island.

China’s recent arm flexing in the South China Sea has rattled small countries like Phillipines,Vietnam and others.The recent faceoff over a fishing boat incident led China to apply an unofficial embargo of rare earth mineral exports to Japan.Now Vietnam and Phillipines are also feelling the heat from a powerful Chinese Navy which is growing in strenght all the time.Note China has massive trade with almost all the countries though it has a testy relationship.China’s political structure makes it difficult for countries to deal with it as other internal forces are also in play.

China is also using its industrial strengths to become an emerging low cost low quality Weapons Exporters.Note the Global Arms Market is dominated by USA and Russia with UK,France,Germany the other major exporters.China,India are the biggest importers of arms with most of their purchases from Russia.However the equation is set to change with China moving up the Technology Ladder to become an Arms Exporter.China has started to export fighter aircraft and missiles and is looking to export drones as well.Its major customers are countries which have difficulty in finding weapons elsewhere.Pakistan is the biggest customer with joint development of weapons with China.Note Russia has become alarmed over the developments as many of Chinese arms said to be copied from Russian Technology.

China navy reaches far, unsettling the region

In recent weeks, Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan have all voiced concerns or made formal complaints over Chinese nautical movements. Some nations have deployed military ships or aircraft to disputed waters. The United States, the dominant military force in the Pacific, is watching closely and has sought to bolster its alliances with countries in the region.The Japanese defense minister, Toshimi Kitazawa, said Friday that there had been a growing number of actions by Chinese vessels in the waters near Okinawa since 2008.”We should be concerned about whether they would go beyond that or not,” he said, according to Kyodo News. In April 2010, a large Chinese flotilla passed near Okinawa, and a Chinese helicopter flew within 300 feet of one of two Japanese destroyers that had begun following the Chinese vessels

First Solar might invest $500 million to build a Thin Film Solar Factory near Chennai,India – Preempt Domestic Content Requirements

31 May, 2011

China,Energy,First Solar,Solar Cells,Solar Energy,Solar Panels

Solar Energy in India is poised to be the biggest Energy opportunity in the 21st century and nobody realizes it better than top solar companies in the world.First Solar which is the biggest thin film company in the world and the most valuable solar manufacturer might be close to investing $500 million to build a solar factory in India.First Solar is the largest producer of solar panels in the world using its proprietary thin film technology.The company is also one of the biggest utility solar system developer in the world focusing mainly on the North American Market.The company has built and sold the world’s largest solar farms in Sarnia,Ontario.The company has beefed up its solar installation business by buying a number of solar developers like Optisolar,Turner etc.

First Solar may invest $500 million in Tamil Nadu,India

According to the Financial Express, a top US Thin Film Based module manufacturer is exploring the possibility of setting up a facility in Tamil Nadu with an investment of $500 million (about R2,255 crore) in the coming months.Note the sources have not revealed the name of the company but it is clear from the investment amount,solar technology that the company is First Solar.A a top level team from the company is expected to visit sometime early next week to initiate discussions with the state government officials.Note First Solar has emphasized the importance of India for its growth aiming to supply 100 MW of solar panels in 2011 itself which would make it a leader in the Indian solar industry.Other top solar panel companies like Suntech and Trina too have invested heavily in selling their solar panels in India through partnerships with local companies.

First Solar not getting too much success in China,so it may be putting redirecting its investment dollars to India

First Solar has been facing massive hurdles in getting solar projects in China which is home to most of the top solar panel producing companies in the world.Its 2 GW Ordos project has been delayed a number of times forcing First Solar to tie up with one of the Big Five utilities in China.Note foreign companies in China routinely face discrimination and the Chinese protectionism and discrimination issue has been raised by government as well as top companies like Siemens.On the other hand India does not have such a policy though it has put in a domestic content requirement for solar projects under JNNSM.This does not apply to thin film technology yet but First Solar may be looking to preempt this by building a solar factory in India.

USA opposed India’s domestic content requirements in Solar Energy (in vain )

USA has opposed India’s Local Content Requirements for the Federal Solar Energy JNNSM program.Note according to the JNNSM rules,solar panels will have to be produced in India for the first year and solar cells will also have to produced from the second year.There is also a proposal that the local content requirements may be extended beyond 2013 and will also include solar inverters.US administration is opposed to these rules as it will lead to export hurdles for its solar companies Sunpower and First Solar.India installers and developers have also opposed the move as it will lead to lesser choice amongst suppliers and probably higher costs.

Note India solar cell/module manufacturers are heavily in favor of the domestic content rules as it will be difficult for them to compete with much larger and lower cost Chinese companies.Note China has not protested against these moves as it promoted its Domestic Wind Energy Industry in 2006 through this policy.Ontario,Canada too is following the same policy and has been take to the WTO by Japan.Note USA has not been a party to the Japanese move,as its companies have won large contracts in the region.There are both pros and cons to the domestic content policy for solar energy but one thing is for sure if free imports are allowed,Indian companies are not in a position to compete with the foreign ones on cost.

First Solar Manufacturing Sites

First Solar major production site is in Malaysia where it has a 15 year tax holiday.Its first solar plant was built in USA while the second one was built in Germany.The company was also planning to build a solar factory in partnership with EDF however the French ambiguity in solar subsidies has made it cancel those plans.The company was also planning to build a factory in China but with the Ordos project facing implicit government hurdles that plan to seems dead.

First Solar Technology and Costs

First Solar,the US based Cadmium Tellurium (Cd-Te) is the lowest cost panel producer in the world today if you don’t include any penalty for low solar panel efficiency.Even if you penalize the Cd-Te Technology for its lower efficiency vis-a-vis the higher efficiency crystalline technology,First Solar is clearly the leader with a core cost of 74c/watt.The company has a roadmap of reducing the cost to 52c/watt by 2014 and given its track record it seems quite achievable.In Cd-Te,some new competitors have claimed even lower costs than First Solar but they have yet to prove it in large scale production.General Electric,Abound Solar are some of the other Cd-Te players which are planning commercial production in a year or two.But with around 2 GW of capacity,they will have a lot of catching up to do.

Coal Shortage Bites – China forced to raise Electricity Prices,Coal Pricing in India might be pooled as 40 GW Thermal Plants without Coal Linkages – Future Dark with India,China to Double Coal Imports

30 May, 2011

China,Coal,Energy

Coal has become the hottest energy topic in the world’s fastest growing economies India and China which depend on Coal for a majority of their Energy Needs.Despite Coal having many dangerous disadvantages,its Advantages of cheapness and abundance have made it the Fossil Fuel of choice..China consumes almost 45% of the global coal production while Indian demand is growing by leaps and demands as well.Indian Power Utilities are grabbing up Coal Mines in Africa,Australia and Asia to secure feedstock for their gigawatt thermal power plants.Coal as an investment is almost a no brainer with its demand surging and with little alternatives.Here is a list of Coal Companies in India which form a great investment option.Though strange for a Green Investment Blog to recommend Investing in Coal , the Dirtiest form of Energy,the fact remains that Coal is going to be the hottest investment in the next decade though Media remains focused on Oil and Gas.

China hikes electricity rates to counter shortage

China has raised electricity rates for some industrial users as parts of the country face severe power shortages.The brief Xinhua News Agency report Monday said residential rates were unchanged. It gave no details about where the changes would be imposed.The increase of about 20 yuan (about $3) per 1,000 kilowatt hour presumably is meant to encourage conservation and motivate utilities to produce more electricity though they are payinig more for coal and oil.

China is going to double its imports of Coal to 200 million tons while India too is expected to reach 100 million tons if not more.This has led to a massive increase in the price of coal even as major producers of coal like Bayan Resources,Bhakti Energi ramp up production in Indonesia.India is already suffering major shortages of coal with only 40 GW of the projected 80 GW of new thermal capacity having coal linkages.There are already reports that newly commissioned thermal power plants in India don’t have access to Coal.The government in India is thinking of pooling the prices of imported and domestic coal to lessen the impact of high prices of imported coal on Indian consumers.This has already drawn flak from Indian power companies who have in the recent past invested billions in acquiring foreign coal assets and who would not want to waste this advantage with smaller electricity producers without access to coal.

China coal imports to double in 2015, India close behind

Top coal consumer China should see import demand more than double in the next four years and India will be close behind as both hoover up supplies on international markets to feed rapidly growing power industries, industry executives said on Monday.China’s thermal coal imports could rise to 200 million tonnes in 2015 from around 90 million tonnes in 2011, Neil Dhar, executive vice president of trading house Noble Group, told the Coaltrans Asia conference.At 90 million tonnes, China’s 2011 imports would be steady from 2010, he said. That would indicate shipments would rise for the rest of the year, as China’s imports in the first four months of 2011 were down a quarter on 2010.

Govt to pool coal prices: Power cos worried

Power generation companies have expressed concern over the government’s proposal of “pooling” international and domestic coal prices, which is aimed at selling the raw material at a uniform price to the customers.Pooling refers to the process in which domestic and international prices of material are averaged out to enable uniformity of rates for all consumers, irrespective of where they are sourcing the material from.The pooling of coal prices is likely to be based on the same price pooling principle adopted by the government for LNG (Liquified Natural Gas).The Power Ministry is exploring every opportunity possible to make coal available to companies at a low price so that electricity generation does not suffer and power tariffs are not driven up.

India facing huge shortages with power and coal ministries in tussle

India is facing shortages of coal even as huge thermal power plants are being set up each day.The Power Ministry wants Coal India to sell coal at cheap prices to companies and stop the mechanism of selling coal through market prices.However the Coal Ministry is naturally opposed to this.Coal India sells coal at absurdly low prices which makes no sense and results in high profits for power companies and sets a bad scheme where excess power is consumed and inefficiency.The Power Ministry is using the bogey of power blackouts saying Coal shortage could force the power plants commissioned during 2009-10 to run at a plant load factor (PLF) of as low as 40%.compared to the normal 80%.

Note the National Coal Distribution Policy (NCDP) has been abused as selling cheap coal by Coal India leads to massive corruption as it is sold to sectors like cement and steel for higher prices leading to a windfall for companies which manage to get cheap coal.Only a market driven mechanism for coal will lead to efficiency and easy availability as the current system is hugely abused.

‘Coal linkages for 40,000-MW power projects yet to be obtained’

Power projects of 80,000-MW generation capacity are under construction in the country, with targeted commissioning by 2017, but the government has warned that coal linkages for plants with a combined capacity of 40,000 MW are yet to be obtained.“Coal linkages for 40,000-45,000 MW power projects for the 12th Plan are yet to be tied up,” a Power Ministry official told PTI.In this regard, the Power Ministry has been interfacing with the Coal Ministry regarding the availability of coal, which is a primary ingredient in thermal power generation.“The Coal Ministry has said that it would ask Coal India to evaluate the fuel availability,” the official said.

80% Chinese Wind Turbines Companies might be Bankrupted as Smaller Producer to lose Government Subsidies (NDRC,MIIT) – Beneficial for Sinovel,Mingyang,Goldwind

12 May, 2011

China,DongFang Electric,Goldwind,Ming Yang,Shanghai Electric,Sinovel,Wind Energy

The Chinese government is set to remove the subsidies to small wind turbine companies in China under a new rule which will be implemented from June 1 .Note the authorities have been concerned about the over investment in the green energy industry boosted by the strong domestic market.The government has already cracked down on small polysilicon producers which were producing polysilicon at uneconomic costs and causing environmental hazards as well.The Chinese government controls most of the funding through its massive state owned banks and gives a number of incentives to industry as well.With the removal of tax breaks,cheap land and easy loans,it will be difficult for even the bigger wind turbine companies to survive leave alone the small ones.

Chinese companies have become the low cost leaders in the Wind Equipment Industry and sell much below Western competitors.Leading WTG companies from the West like Vestas and Gamesa are reeling from Chinese competition and slowdown in Western markets.Suzlon too has been affected as Korean shipbuilders and Chinese wind producers have become major players.

Chinese Wind Industry facing huge Overcapacity

The Chinese Wind Industry has around 80 wind turbine companies many of which are quite small and dont’ have the money and expertise to compete in the international markets.Though the Chinese dominate the top global wind turbine companies list with 7 of the top 15 WTG companies Chinese,many are not competitive.Sinovel which has become the largest wind turbine company has recently canceled order for Electrical Control Systems from American Superconductor citing high inventory.Other Wind Turbine companies are in even more trouble as the industry suffers from huge overcapacity.The Chinese Wind Capacity has grown at 100% CAGR to reach 18 GW in 2010.However this strong growth has led to saturation of the wind market and price wars are being seen in China.Exports to other countries have been difficult as the cost of transportation of Wind Turbines is high.Besides Chinese Wind Companies don’t possess strong technology and quality unlike established ones like Vestas,Gamesa,GE and Siemens.Though Dongfang and Shanghai Electric have managed to win some Turbine Orders in India,the export percentage is negligible.Wind Power in India too has reached a stable growth level and a number of wind companies in India are fighting for marketshare as well.

Smaller Chinese Wind Companies to be Wiped Out

It is likely that the smaller Chinese Wind Companies will go bankrupt as the Wind Industry reeling under overcapacity will unlikely see acquisitions of these smaller companies by bigger players like Goldwind,Ming Yang and others.The government wants these smaller wind companies to sell their older smaller turbines to outside markets,however that too seemly improbable given that the largest wind turbine companies have failed to export any turbines in a major way till now

China Fine-Tunes Wind Turbine Industry with New Guidelines

China’s wind power industry, which has developed by leaps and bounds over the past five years, will have to follow a new series of guidelines and restrictions, according to the 2011 edition of the Guideline Catalogue for Industrial Restructuring, a set of policy guidelines recently released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).Industry officials say that once an investment project is listed in the “encouraged development” category, the company or companies behind the project can enjoy preferential treatments such as floating shares in the stock market, lighter requirements for new bank loans and tax breaks.However, under the new guidelines, China will not extend these preferential policies to companies that produce wind turbines with 2.5-megawatt-capacity or lower. Instead, the policies will encourage the development of larger-capacity turbines, as well as components for control systems and converters for these larger turbines.However, under the new guidelines, China will not extend these preferential policies to companies that produce wind turbines with 2.5-megawatt-capacity or lower. Instead, the policies will encourage the development of larger-capacity turbines, as well as components for control systems and converters for these larger turbines.

Solar Energy Protectionism – Italy joins India,Canada in formulating Domestic Content Requirements

10 May, 2011

China,Italy,Renewable Energy,Solar Energy,Solar Inverters,Solar Panels,USA

Solar Energy has seen a massive boom in 2010 growing by more than 150% as falling solar product prices and increasing subsidies by governments looking to prevent climate change,peak oil and reduce pollution.However most of the solar panel production has become concentrated in China and Taiwan with almost 60% of the world’s solar panel production being done in those regions.The lower costs of labor,cheap cost of capital and good infrastructure has made this possible.However the massive amounts of imports of green products has raised the hackles in developed countries.France had suddenly cut subsidies to the solar power industry citing massive imports of cheap solar panels from China.Note this argument has some basis as European solar module manufacturers have seen huge losses and are shifting factories from Europe to Asia.

Ontario,India also have domestic content requirements

Ontario Canada has a comprehensive solar subsidy policy which mandate that a large percentage of solar components be manufactured in Ontario in order to receive the Feed in Tariffs.The province has managed to attract a lot of manufacturing investment as well due to its local content requirements which requires around 50-60% locally produced parts.This has made Solar Module companies like Silfab and Canadian Solar to set up module plants while companeis like Enphase,Schneider and SMA are setting up inverter plants in the province.Note the local content requirements for Renewable Energy Equipment are nothing new with China implementing a 70% requirement in 2005 for Wind Turbines.Japan which is also a large manufacturer of solar panels with major Japanese solar companies like Sharp,Kyocera has taken Canada to the WTO citing improper competitive practises.India which has one of the largest potential in solar energy installation too has promulgated a law that requires domestic content requirements.Solar Modules must be produced in India to gain FIT under the JNNSM.This law is expected to become stricter with solar cells also to be produced in the country in the future.This has drawn howls of protest from American officials who too tried domestic content in their subsidies under the Stimulus Act.

Italy joins the Solar Energy Protectionism Bandwagon

Italy has joined the bandwagon as well with the latest version of the solar subsidy law Conto Energia 4 giving additional 5-10% incentives for solar components manufactured in the European Union.Note it won’t benefit Italy too much as most of the manufacturing in located in Germany,Spain and cheap eastern European countries.What it is going to do is cause more disruption to the Italain Solar Market as China may take Italy to the WTO.Not that China is any better as it implicitly supports domestic companies as most of the government companies award contracts only to Chinese companies without being explicit about it.In fact the growth of the Chinese Wind Power Industry was due to the domestic content requirements law implemented in 2007.

Page 5 of 33

← 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 →

...

Last