Solar Water Heaters are one of the most successful solar products which have managed to proliferate without government subsidies needed for other solar products like solar panels etc.Note Solar Power in India is taking off with the government promoting its through the JNNSM subsidy policy.The payback period for solar heaters is quite short and it substitutes the need for electricity needed to run power guzzling water heaters in residential and commercial establishments.The other reasons for the success of solar water heaters is that they are relatively easy to build and install making them quite popular.China has the largest number of solar water heaters installed in the world and other countries are not far behind.India too has seen a rapid growth in the use of solar water heaters with roofs around India marked with solar water heaters.Note the government of India through MNRE also subsidizes the buying of solar water heaters making them even more popular.Solar Water Heaters of different qualities,capacities and prices are available in the Indian market.Solar Installers are responsible for doing the whole turnkey installation of solar water heaters,piping system and maintenance.
Labor Cost Arbitrage is the biggest reason for the growth of the Indian outsourcing industry.The outsourcing revolution in India which started though technology outsourcing has spread to the legal,medical and other fields as well.Medical Billing,Coding and Transcription has become a big business besides Legal Outsourcing of work.Globalization of finance and trade has been much more rapid than the globalization of labor which faces many hurdles.The spread of Internet and improvement in Communications has made this hurdle moot as many high cost services in India are being performed virtually over the Internet.However this arbitrage which has bought billions in profits to global corporations and rise of new companies such as Infosys,TCS and others is disappearing.Rising Wage Inflation in India caused by a multitude of factors including the Bernanke Money Printing has led to shrinking of the margins.
Renewable Energy Companies have started going public in a big way in the last 5 years as the Wind Industry has gone by around 30% CAGR in the last 10 years and the Solar Industry has grown by 50% CAGR.Both these industries have seen investments of more than $70 billion each in 2010.Solar companies which did not exist in public stock markets before 2006 have seen over 100 listings in the last 5 years in different stock exchanges around the world.Wind Industry which has been around much longer has not seen a lot of listings in the last 5 years as most of the companies are already listed.However a number of Chinese companies which have seen spectacular growth driven by the 100% growth per annum in the Chinese market have seen a number of listings.Other Renewable Energy companies have not been that prolific in public IPOs,though a number of clean technology companies have listed in the NASDAQ Market like Amyris,Tesla,Zipcars,A123 Systems and have gotten a good response.However for Renewable Energy Companies the USA Stock Markets have not proven very receptive in the last couple of years after seeing a boom of Chinese Solar Company listings.So which is the best stock market and the worst stock market to list if you are a Renewable Energy CFO?
eSolar is a US based Solar Thermal Technology Startup which has managed to raise $182 million from top VCs and investors and managed to win contracts to build solar power plants using its properietary Power Tower Technology in the US,China and India.Note like Brightsource Energy,eSolar is one of the most promising CSP startups which has managed to get funding and contracts,it now needs to execute to deliver on its potential.
Solar is using the Power Tower Technology same as Brightsource Technology which differs from the parabolic trough mainstream CSP Technology.Note Parabolic Trough Technology is used by most of the established Spanish players like Abengoa.It is also the Technology used in the 392 MW largest solar thermal plant in the US built in the 1980s by Luz.In this technology thousands of heliostats (mirrors) reflect the solar light onto a “Power Tower” where water or salt is heated up.This heat energy is then transferred into Electrical Energy through standard Steam Turbines and Generators used in Gas,Nuclear and Thermal Power Plants.
Suniva is the only crystalline solar Solar Companies in the US which has been able to survive and thrive in recent times.Sunpower too has resurrected itself through strategic JVs and acquisitions.The main reason for the decline of the US solar companies has been the severe competition from the low cost Chinese Solar Industry.This has made companies like Energy Conversion Devices and Evergreen Solar shut down US factories and look towards Mexico and China to build low cost factories.However Suniva has managed to face all these competitive threats quite successfully and is looking to expand capacity in the US by building a 400 MW factory.The company even refused a DOE Loan Guarantee saying that the terms were too onerous.The company has manged to raise more then $130 million in equity and has won contracts to supply high efficiency solar cells to the Asian companies which is a first.Suniva differentiates itself through its technology which allows the production of high efficiency monocrystalline solar cells at lower cost.Note Sunpower makes the highest efficiency cells in the world in the range of 22-24% but its cost structure is too high.Suniva is looking to challenge the Taiwanese Cell Producers by marrying higher efficiency with lower cost.
Nira Radia the millionaire lobbyist who became a public figure overnight as tapes leaked to her phone conversations were printed by the mass media has revealed sordid details about the politician businessmen nexus.In the chargesheet presented by the CBI to the Supreme Court she has revealed the multi billion dollar realty company DB Realty is a front for Sharad Pawar and controlled by him.This hardly comes as a surprise as powerful Agri Minister Pawar has been linked to a number of corruption scandals like the Lavasa Scandal,2G Telecom Scam,IPL Scam etc.Note DB Realty CEO has been directly implicated in the transfer of bribe giving to Raja the former Telecom Minister in exchange for a Telecom License at dirt cheap prices.It is a tribute to the power of Pawar that despite such massive circumstantial evidence against him and his family,there has been no court case or police charges against him.Note a number of big companies in India are known to be secretly owned and controlled by powerful politicians.Not that politicians don’t own billion dollar businesses openly and use their political muscle to further their own interests in a blatant manner.