Green Companies in India – Biomass,Solar,Wind,Geothermal,Hydroelectricity Energy Producers,Alternative Energy Utilities

India’s Green Companies are seeing tremendous growth backed by the nation’s massive energy demand increase.The 8% Plus Economic Growth coupled with the already massive electricity deficit which makes brownouts of 8 hours a day normal in many places in the country provides the macro background underpinning the growth.India’s Green Industry is still in a nascent state compared to the massive solar and wind industries in countries like China and Germany.However attracted by the massive potential a number of companies small and large have entered the fray.Most of India’s large energy groups,utilities have already established a small presence or are in process of doing so.While Wind Energy is the largest Renewable Energy Industry in India after Hydro Electricity,Geothermal Energy is non-existent without a single large commercial plant.Biomass Energy is quite well developed and Solar Energy is the fastest growing Green Industry.Here is a comprehensive list of the Green Companies in India operating in the different Alternative Energy Sectors.

Wind Power Companies in India

1) Suzlon Energy – Suzlon Energy is the biggest Wind Energy Company by far with 4-5 Gigawatts of WTG Capacity per year.Its subsidiaries Hansen Transmission and RePower are also big players in the Wind Energy in Europe.The Company has seen its revenues and profits take a huge hit in recent times but has been recovering slowly.

2) RRB Energy – The company has a long history and manufactures Wind Turbines at its plants in Tamil Nadu.The Company has a capacity of 300 MW which it is expanding to 700 MW.The Company makes only 2 models with power rating of 600 Kw and 1.8 MW.Merill Lynch has made a small investment in this company.

3) NEPC India – This company was one of the wind energy heavyweights and a stock market darling earlier.However It no longer remains an active player in the Indian market .Heavy Debt and Bad Management drove to this company to the ground despite being a pioneer in the Indian Wind Power Market.

4) Auro Mira Energy – The company is more of a Green Utility rather than a full fledged WEG manufacturer.It has made plans to manufacture Wind Turbines in the future.It has attracted funds from Baring and IFC to push forward its Green Plans.Auro Mira Energy is a Tamil Nadu based Green Utility backed by a clutch of PE investors like IFC etc.It has 2 biomass plants of 7.5 MW and 10 MW and plans to build around 100 MW of hydro and biomass capacity over the next 2-3 years.

5) Regen Powertech – It is a small scale WTG Supplier like RRB Energy which recently set up a small 300 MW manufacturing facility in Tada,Andhra Pradesh recently.The company licenses technology from Vensys to manufacture 1.5 MW gear-less Wind Turbines.The company has managed to supply both big and small wind farms over the last 2 years.The company is supported by the PE arm of Future Group.

6) WinWind – The company is not exactly a domestic company rather one with a Finnish Origin.It is owned by the Abu Dhabi Masdar ,Siva Group and the government of Finland.It has recently established a 1000 MW capacity in Venga,Tamil Nadu and also has a 500 MW plant in Finland as well.The company plans to producer 3 MW Turbines at its Indian plant as well.

7) Pioneer Wincon – The company is a JV between the Pioneer Group and Wincon of Denmark.It makes small 250 KW Turbines and is a bit player with 30 years of operations in India.The Company remains a small static player in the Wind Energy Market of India.

8) Chiranjeevi Wind Energy – A Small bit player like Pioneer Wincon which engages mostly in the sale of small 250 KW Wind Turbines.Like Pioneer Wincon it has sold a number of these Turbines to small companies mainly in the Southern Part of India.

9) Lietnar Shriram Limited – The company is a 50:50 JV betwen the Shriram Group of India and Lietnar of Italy.The company makes gearless turbines of 1.5 MW capacity and has supplied to small farms in Maharashtra.The company has a major inhouse customer in the form of Orient Green Power which is building a 300 MW farm in Tamil Nadu using Lietnar Shriram Wind Turbines.

10) Kenersys – The company is part of the Baba Kalyani Group which is a major forgings manufacturer in India.It was bought over in 2007,when the Kalyani Group and PE firm First Reserve bought over the German company RSB Consult.The Company mainly  makes 2 and 2.5 MW turbines and has production facilities both in India and Germany.It has wind design capabilities between 1-3.6 MW and with a powerful parent, it could become a success in the future.Amongst the newer wind energy companies like Lietnar,RRB Energy,Regen and WinWind,it looks like the one with most potential.

Alternative Energy Utilities (Major Ones)

CLP Power which is a subsidiary of  Hong Kong-listed Power Company CLP is one of the largest private power generation companies in India The company is the biggest wind farm operator in India with around 450 MW of capacity which it plans to raise by another 50% to around 640 MW.

Tata Power / Tata BP Solar– The biggest private utility in India has big plans for Clean Energy as well.Its subsidiary Tata BP Solar is one of the biggest producers of solar panels and cells in the country.The company has huge plans in wind,solar and geothermal energy.It has also invested in a geothermal energy project in Indonesia..

Orient Green Power – This Chennai based company is the largest Green Utility in India with more than 200 MW of Renewable Energy Capacity mostly in Wind and Biomass.The company came out with one of the biggest IPOs in India in 2010.

Greenko – This is one of the biggest Green Utilties in India with around 200 MW of Electricity Capacity predominantly in small hydro and biomass plants.It is listed London’s AIM Exchange and has a top notch managment team.Its recent performance has been quite good and it is expanding rapidly.

Geothermal Energy Companies in India

Geothermal Energy in India is non existent with not a single functioning plant as of 2011.However potential for this renewable energy source exists in a number of sites in India with a total potential of around 10 GW.With the Indian government planning to come out with a draft policy to develop geothermal energy by March 2011,major companies are gearing up to exploit this alternative energy resource.

Thermax – It is a major publicly listed  power equipment company. The company has a JV with  Iceland-based Reykjavik Geothermal  to explore the Ratnagiri region in western Maharashtra state.A pilot 3 MW project is slated to be set up in Puga Valley in Ladakh.

Geosyndicate Power is  founded by D Chandrasekharam, a professor at IIT Bombay. It has already entered into a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Warangal-based Northern Power Distribution Company under the aegis of the Non-conventional Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Limited (NEDCAP).The plant should come up by 2012 with  with an initial capacity of 25 MW if the company can managed the financing of  the cost of the $ 64.66 million plant in the Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh (AP).

Panax Geothermal – Panax is an Australian company which has tied up with Geosyndicate to develop a 60 MW plant in Puga,Himachal Pradesh.However the project is still in the very intial stage with permits or a PPA.

Avin Energy – This is a small company which plans to develop a 5 MW plant in Gujarat.However it seems to being having difficulty in finding financing and seems to have changed its focus to solar energy.

LNJ Bhilwara – The LNJ Bhilwara Group had tied up with the now bankrupt Glitnir Bank of Iceland for a $10 million investment into geothermal energy E&P.A with others,nothing has resulted from the JV a nd with one of the partners bankrupt,the future looks quite uncertain.

HydroElectricity Companies in India

NHPC – State owned like NTPC,this hydro power focused power company came out with an IPO with much fanfare.However slow implementation and lower profits have resulted in the stock prices declining a lot.However the company aims to double its electricity generation of 5 GW in the next 5 years or so by focusing on hydel generation in the Northern states of India.

SJVN – SJVN is the second largest hydel power company in India which is a JV between the Indian government and the Himachal Pradesh state.The company owns the largest hydro plant in India the Nathpa Jhakri Hydroelectric 1500 MW Power Project .The company is trying to expand like NHPC but has been facing execution problems.

Other major hydro power focused companies in India are JP Hydro

Solar Power Companies in India

India has a huge potential in Solar Energy Generation which is being strongly supported by the Federal Government under the JNNSM Scheme and by individual States like Gujarat and Rajasthan.Despite some initial hurdles,the long term growth story is strong leading to a rapid growth in the industry.Solar Power Companies in India are growing rapidly with both the private and public sector expanding to take advantage of the exponential growth.

Solar Photovoltaic Companies

Moser Baer – This is primarily a Solar Panel Production Company which has recently made a big bet to get into the Power Production Space as well.Moser Baer Projects Private in which the Blackstone Group made a $300 million bet  has plans of a 20:80 mix of Green and Dirty Power.

Solar Semiconductor – A Producer of Solar Power Modules and Cells. It has some operations in Solar Installation as well.

These companies are similar to Solar Semiconductor in having a small capacity to produce silicon based solar cells or solar panels or both.

IndoSolar

Topsun Solar

Titan Energy

PLG Power

Maharishi Solar

Kotak Urja

Photon Energy Systems

Lanco Solar – A major private utility in India.Has bagged a JNNSM bid to build a big solar thermal plant.Also getting into production of poly,wafers,cell and modules based on c0Si Technology.

BHEL – BHEL which is India’s largest Capital Good makers is the other company with the big solar ambitions.BHEL has strong capabilities in the field of making electricity generating equipment.Extending these capabilities in the field of solar power generation is a natural extension.

BEL – This is another state owned company established by the Indian Government to meet the specialised electronic needs of the Indian defence services.  The company produces consumer products like  , Solar Powered LED-Based Traffic Signal Lights.Tying up with BHEL to set up a big solar equipment producing facility.

SunEdison/MEMC – US Polysilicon and Wafer Producer MEMC bought Sunedison which was one of the largest solar installers in 2008.Now MEMC is strongly expanding the system installation business not only in the US but other parts of the world like India,Europe,Korea,Canada and other places.The company recently installed one of the biggest solar plants in the world in Rovigo,Italy

Delta Electronics – Taiwanese Giant Electronics Firm is setting up a production base in Chennai to capitalize on the Solar Inverter Opportunity.Delta is also expanding in countries like Singapore and Germany to take advantage of the the growth in Green Industry.

SMA Solar – The Big Daddy of the Solar Inverter Market with a   40% Marketshare of the Global Market.This Germany company has become the most valued solar company in Germany beating out the old stalwarts like Q-Cells  and Solarworld.SMA Solar has managed to maintain its marketshare and grow as fast  with the global solar demand unlike some of its competitors.SMA Solar faces tough times ahead as the growing inverter industry attracts numerous competitors and it remains to be seen whether it can avoid the fate of Q-Cells.

Gehrlicher Solar Belectric – One of the largest installers in Germany,it is one of the first European Solar EPC players to set up base in India as its domestic market starts to saturate in solar power and slow donw

SDEM TEGA – Small American solar power developer

American Capital Energy– Small American solar power developer

Suntech – Suntech was  the world’s biggest producer of solar panels in 2010 and was one the first companies to set up operations in China.Its example was followed by a host of other Chinese companies.Suntech has been slow to expand compared to the fast growing small companies in China and has lost marketshare to them.It has started to vertically integrate in order to meet the low cost challenge from Trina and Yingli.Suntech makes one of the best quality Solar Panels in China.

Trina Solar – Trina Solar is one of the lowest cost manufacturers of Solar Panels in the World right now and also sells it at a very low price.This is the reason that the company in a span of few short years has managed to acquire a substantial  global marketshare.The prices the solar panels being sold are around $340 per 200 watt module.Trina Solar.Like Yingli and Suntech,Trina Solar Panels are one the best quality in China

First Solar – First Solar is the only Solar Thin Film Manufacturer in the world and a benchmark for other thin film companies thinking of making it big.The company was promoted by Wal-Mart promoters and has seen remarkable growth in the last few.This US based company uses Cadmium Tellurium (Cd-Te) Technology and  is the lowest cost panel producer in the world today if you don’t include any penalty for low 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.There is little doubt about First Solar’s ability to survive and flourish due to its massive first mover advantage

Solar Thermal/Solar CSP Companies

Siemens – The world’s largest green company is quite weak in the Solar Energy area.Like other conglomerates and competitor Areva,it acquired Israeli CSP company Solel Energy to make its foray into the Solar Thermal Energy sector.The company is looking to expand in India where the JNNSM has given equal importance to Solar Thermal Technology.

Areva – Another Giant Global Electrical Equipment Conglomerate which entered the Solar Thermal Energy area by acquiring a struggling CSP startup Ausra.The company is planning like the others to make a major investment of around $3 billion to build 1000 MW capacity in India.The company is the biggest nuclear equipment supplier in the world and has interests in biomass energy as well.

Schott – This German company is a provider of parabolic recievers used in CSP plants.The German Glass Maker is a big component supplier to the CSP industry but does not provide a turnkey solution.Schott is also involved in the Solar PV Technology area producing both crystalline silicon panels as well as thin film panels.

Abengoa – Abengoa is one of the most well known suppliers of Solar Thermal Equipment in the world and is a proven developer of large scale Solar Plants in Spain and USA.This Spanish giant has signed a JV with India’s largest capital equipment company BHEL to manufacture components for Solar Thermal Plants..t has managed to win a large DOE grant for constructing another large Solar Thermal Plant in the USA.It has also signed a JV with Abu Dhabi promoted Masdar to build a 100 MW Shams 1 plant near Madinet Zayed in UAE

Solar Millennium – The company is one of the most aggressive players in the Solar Thermal Energy Sector.The company is in the process of building CSP plants in Africa,Europe,India and USA.This German company has won several project approvals to build CSP plants in Califronia through its JV Solar Trust with Ferrostaal Inc.The company has running plants at Andasol in Spain.In 2009, Solar Millennium entered into a joint venture with Suryachakra Power Venture for joint development of solar power projects in India.The company uses parabolic tough technology and is able to provide a turnkey solution from Technology to Design to EPC.

Biomass Energy Companies in India

India had set up around 500 MW of Biomass Capacity by 2007 and has increased it by almost 150 MW since then to reach around 1 GW capacity today.Most of Indias’ Biomass Electricity is being generated in Andhra Pradesh,Maharashtra,Tamil Nadu,Karnataka and Rajasthan.

1. A2Z Maintenance & Engineering Services – This facilities management firm which recently came out with an IPO is planning to foray big time into biomass energy generation.The company is planning to set up 120 MW of Biomass Energy i n the next 2-3 years which would make it the biggest biomass electricity producing company in India.It plans to set up three 15 MW plants in Punjab and five 15 MW plants in Rajasthan mainly using crop residue like rice husk as feedstock.
2. Lakshmi Energy and Foods is engaged in manufacturing and processing food grains and related products. The product includes rice, basmati rice (branded as Lakshmi Foods), parmal rice, rice bran edible oil, wheat flour, de-oiled cake, refined oils, and cattle feed (branded as Heera Moti). It also has 30MW biomass-based power generation business using rice husk as fuel.The company plans to expand this capacity to 105 MW.Note the company is trading at extremely low valuations and is traded on the Indian stock exchange.
3. Clenergen India Private Limited –  The company is a subsidiary of Clenergen Corporation based in Florida,USA.The company has a 18 MW plant in Kancheepuram Tamil Nadu and is taking over operations of an existing 27MW/h biomass power plant (the “Plant”), which has the ability increase Clenergen’s operating capacity to 51.5MW/h by the end of 2011
4. Husk Power Systems (HPS), a Patna-based company engaged in rural electrification and power generation started by Darden School of Business 2009 graduates Chip Ransler and Manoj Sinha.HPS is engaged in producing clean energy from rice husks using biomass gasification technology.It currently owns and operates mini power plants with a capacity to produce 35-100 KW electricity, and has about 25 plants spread across Bihar.
5. Abellon CleanEnergy Ltd – This is an Indian Biomass Energy Company that is setting up a huge planation in Ghana to employ thousands of workers.The plantation will grow bamboo, palmarosa and sweet sorghum on 10,000 hectares of degraded land which will be used as biomass feedstock for a big power plant
6. LT Foods – This is also a well known rice producer and refiner with well known brands.It is similar in profile to Lakshmi Energy and Foods and plans to set up a 5 MW plant in Punjab with more investment in further expansion.
7. Dee Development provides services primarily to the oil & gas and  power sector .Dee Development has installed two bio-mass based power plants of 7.5 MW and 8 MW, both in the state of Punjab. It is also planning to set another biomass plant in Madhya Pradesh by 2011.
8. AllGreen Energy – This Bangalore based startup has raised from Reliance Capital and GE.It is building a  6.4 MW biomass project in Perundurai,Tamil Nadu with a total installed capacity target of 100 MW.The company is using IGCC technology developed by IISC.

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