Semiconductor and Electronics Giant Samsung is entering into production of polysilicon setting up a 10,000 ton plant in an equal JV with US Poly Producer MEMC.The plant will be set up in South Korea and will go onstream by 2013 as it takes around 2 years to set up a plant.Note Samsung had recently started production solar crystalline silicon solar panels which uses polysilicon as raw material.Samsung has a strategy for manufacturing crucial raw materials inhouse for its different product lines.For example Samsung has a multi billion dollar JV with Corning to manufacture LCD glass in South Korea and a JV to make wafers for semiconductors with Wacker.It uses the expertise and technology of its JV partners to get into raw material production.The JV partners get a huge customer for their products and are happy to go along with Samsung in these Joint Ventures.

India’s Environment Ministry Jairam Ramesh has been portrayed as the devil incarnate by the industrial lobbies as he has struck down various billion dollar realty, mining and power projects.First it was Vedanta’s mining project in Orissa,then the Lavasa township in Pune and then power projects in Andhra Pradesh.While some of these infrastructure projects should go ahead with modifications,it has brought some regard for the environment.While some of the projects like the Jaitapur Nuclear Plant in Maharashtra were given the environmental go-ahead despite serious concerns raised by TISS and local citizens,the trampling of ecology by the corporate lobbies seems to have been curtailed.However India’s growing economy and its massive energy needs cannot be kept at bay for long.

Solyndra is one of the most hyped solar starups which has managed to raise $1 billion in funding and coming out with surprisingly little for the money.Not only did it postpone its IPO but also shut down its first factory as pricess keep diving faster than it can cut costs.Brightsource Energy on the other hand seems to have a brighter future with its unique CSP technology.Also with backers like Alstom and Bechtel,it has the heavy engineering support to construct the massive 392 MW plant.Note other Solar Thermal startups like Ausra and Soliel Systems were bought up by giant engineering conglomerartes Areva and Siemens.Brightsource along with eSolar remain the only pureplay CSP companies still surviving.

Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) has been mooted as one of the main weapons against climate change.With little alternative to Coal based power generation,CCS is touted as a temporary solution.However CCS as a global warming solution is like putting lipstick on a pig.The technology for CCS remains immature at best and even the biggest users of coal,the Chinese utilities have ruled out using CCS before 2015.Though big pilot projects have been announced in Australia,USA and UK,CCS is not a serious option as far as dealing with climate change.This however has not prevented companies from playing in this area.Toshiba is the latest company to join the CCS fray hoping to set up a 5 MW pilot plant in JV with India’s biggest power utility NTPC.

The recent Supreme Court case dealing with the phone tapping of a political leader who has fallen on bad days has revealed an astounding fact.The Indian Government taps more than 100 phones a day just from a single telecom operator.When the Supreme Court castigated Reliance Telecom for tapping the phone based on a phony letter full of bad grammar,the operator revaeled that it had recieved requests to tap 150,000 phones over a period of 5 years.This reveals a massive systematic abuse by the government of its powers.This sort of behaviour seems more like that of a police state like Egypt rather than a flourishing democracy.Talking on the mobile phone has suddenly become a dangerous activity as Big Brother Indian government is listening to most of the country’s communications.The recent Nira Radia phone tap leak shows the complete respect for privacy.It is not only the government,the service providers in the country have scant respect for your privacy.Telecom operators,Banks,Travel Agencies will sell your information for a pittance to marketing agencies.Telecom operators will not only sell your information but also the list of all your contacts.

Insider Trading is quite rampant in India particularly in mid cap and small cap companies where promoters frequently collude with market operators in rigging up stock prices.Most of the small IPOs that come are blatantly rigged in pump and dump schemes without the market regulator SEBI doing anything.There have been cases where some individuals and […]