Abhishek Shah
May 29, 2011
Having good solar radiation data is essential for building solar power plants anywhere.USA and European Union have a well-developed insolation map so that developers and investors in solar energy have no difficulty in getting good data while planning an investment.However Indian developers are at a distinct disadvantage as there is no good primary data to go on.Solar Radiation data makes a huge difference to the economics of a project and no bank will give a loan based on incomplete data.For the inexperienced developers this has become another problem among a host of other problems.With little understanding of the technology and other factors,many of them jumped in and are now in a deep soup.However the prospects of the Indian solar energy are great even with these initial hiccups.The flushing out of the weak hands should help in strengthening the solar energy industry in India in the best traditions of capitalism.
May 29, 2011
India's new anti monopoly watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) has belatedly started operations and its first few orders hardly inspire much confidence.Note most of the developed countries like USA and European Union have highly developed and advanced competition regulators which impose hundreds of millions in fines against domestic and international companies who indulge in anti-market practises.The huge fines serve as a great deterrence where powerful corporates try to undermine the market forces through their sheer size.The landmark anti monopoly legal cases against Microsoft,LCD companies have proved to be very effective in punishing super powerful businesses who have shafted consumers through illegal practises.
May 29, 2011
Switzerland has voted to not build any new nuclear reactors and not to extend the life of the existing nuclear plants once their expected life ends.The […]
May 29, 2011
The dangers of Hydraulic Fracking which is used to extract Shale Gas has become one of the biggest environmental issues for Big Oil and Gas companies.Shale Gas Extraction has seen doubts being raised against its Environmental Safety Record.This new form of Fossil Fuel Extraction has seen a Gold Rush from Global Oil and Gas Majors looking to tap into this major new Energy Form.In the initial helter-skelter,environmental norms have been bypassed.The controversial Fracking Process leads to chemical contamination of water bodies leading to disease and sickness among local animals and humans.Shale Gas Companies and Local Officials have also been accused of conniving to break regulations and laws regarding water usage.The use of new techniques to extract gas from shale formations has gained huge traction in the United State with major companies like Chevron,Exxon spending billions of dollars to acquire companies with shale gas assets and technology.Indian and Chinese companies like Reliance too have spent their billions to gain a slice of the lucrative new Gas pie.However the environmental dangers of using fracking has kept cropping up despite efforts by Big Oil and Gas to suppress.
May 28, 2011
Samsung SDI one of the many companies of the largest Korean Chaebol Samsung has become the Green Sword Arm.Note Samsung SDI already is responsible for the […]
May 28, 2011
SEBI has been strangely and inexplicably absent from its role of supervising the primary market in India despite a stream of pump and dump IPO by small disreputable promoters and investment bankers.Most of these IPOs have no fundamentals to justify lofty valuations and without the role of market operators and investment bankers have no hope in hell of getting subscribed.Its a scary gambling scheme in which retail investors put money only with the hope of getting out on the first day with probably listing gains.There is no way that an investor can make money in these issues in the long term.However the shenanigans of the promoters and bankers have gone unpunished leading to more and more of these junk IPOs getting into the stock market everyday.This only brings a bad name to Indian stock markets where manipulation can happen so brazenly and openly and pushes away genuine investors away from equities.SEBI has been recently been trying to get more retail investors into the stock market however it seems mere words as it does not take action on open corruption.
May 28, 2011
Solar Power in India is going to be one of the biggest opportunities in the 21st century with a number of favorable supply and demand factors converging.The Indian government too has supported Solar Energy in India through the ambitious JNNSM which aims for around 20 GW of Solar Capacity by 2020 (which is too low in my view).A Number of Green Companies both domestic and foreign have already made huge plans to capitalize on this oppurtunity.Here are some of the major happenings in India's solar sector in the last month or so.Juwi which is one of the biggest solar energy developers in Germany ( a market which has become saturated) has joined hands with Lanco Solar ( a subsidiary of one of India's biggest private power companies) to set up a 75 MW Solar Plant in Maharashtra winning a contract from the state power generation company Mahagenco.The contract value is Rs 884 crore which works out to be just under Rs 12 crores/MW or $2.6/watt which is extremely low even with the price of solar panels crashing in the international market.At this price the electricity generated won't be too expensive and Mahagenco has a good deal.On the other hand Juwi and Lanco get bragging rights to being the development team for one of India's biggest solar plants.
May 15, 2011
I would like to think that Greenworldinvestor.com has met all what it was meant for and much more.The Blog has a high quality readership from the corporate sector,students,retail as well as institutional investors, environmental activists as well as people interested in the topics written on the blog.We get visitors from almost 100 countries each day which points of tremendous diversification of readership and helps in getting very different views on topics.In terms of traffic to Greenworldinvestor.com,it has been constantly been increasing month on month.We now get more than 50,000 visitors a month , 200,000 pageviews and have around 700 subscribers to the Blog.The blog is globally ranked 118,500 on Alexa which ranks websites on the Internet
May 14, 2011
Electronic Waste is a massive problem in the Developed and Developing world with Thousands of Tons of Hazardous Electronic Waste being generated each year.With Electronics getting more ubiquitous and costs falling rapidly,Electronic Waste Problem is only going to increase.E-Waste is responsible not only for releasing dangerous substances into the environment it also causes deaths and injuries to poor in countries like India,China and Africa who are forced to work in extremely bad conditions.Electronic Waste Recycling is the need of the hour but the governments around the world have not pushed hard enough.Europe has been at the forefront with the WEEE directive passed in 2002 while USA has been a laggard as usual failing to prevent toxic waste from being dumped in landfills and shipped to poor countries with lax environmental regulations.Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 has been passed in California which again as usual has been leading the federal government on clean technology legislation.
May 13, 2011
WEEE refers to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive issued by the European Community on Electronic and Electrical Waste alongwith the ROHS Directive in 2003 which regulates the collection,recycling and disposal of electronic and electrical equipment.The Directive are 2002/96/EC and 2002/95/EC.WEEE makes it mandatory for the producers of to dispose of the Electronic Waste.Unlike the USA which does not have such a strict policy,the companies must do so in an environment friendly way and can't just export all the electronic junk ot Africa,India and China which has been the way of the industry till then.
The legislation provides for the creation of collection schemes where consumers return their used e-waste free of charge. The objective of these schemes is to increase the recycling and/or re-use of such products. It also requires heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium and flame retardants such as polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) to be substituted by safer alternatives.The EU’s WEEE and RoHS laws simply serve as a template for national laws. They are transposed into national law at national level.Member States are required to draw up a register of producers and collect information on an annual basis on the quantities and categories of electrical and electronic equipment placed on their market, collected, re-used, recycled and recovered within that Member State and on collected waste exported.
May 13, 2011
Electronic waste is defined as loosely discarded, surplus, obsolete, or broken electrical and electronic devices.It consists of secondary computers, electronics,LCDs,computers,mobile phones etc which have been discarded or thrown by the owners.The rapid decline in the cost of semiconductors due to Moore's law has led to a rapid increase in the size of the electronics industry which is more than $1 trillion dollar globally.Millions of electronics items are thrown out each year leading to mountains of Electronic Waste.If not treated and Recycled,E-Waste can be hazardous to the environment and lead to wastage of precious materials which can be reused.Lost electronic devices contain a variety of materials, including metals that can be recovered for future uses. By dismantling and providing reuse possibilities, intact natural resources are conserved and air and water pollution caused by hazardous disposal is avoided.Electronic Waste Recycling companies are quite disorganized without major global e-recycling companies.The E-Waste Manageress industry still consists mainly of thousands of workers in developing countries like India where they continue to work in dangerous conditions.1,200 small companies generated revenue of around $5 billion last year.This is expected to treble by 2015 as more countries make electronic waste management compulsory and the sheer volume of electronics grows (think iPads)
May 12, 2011
Poland is one of the largest countries in Europe to have such a high dependence on Coal Energy to meet its Electricity Needs.Note European Union has a target to meet 20% of its Energy by 2020 from Renewable Energy sources which has mad the fossil fuel dependent Eastern European countries looks towards Wind,Solar and Biomass Energy.Note Eastern European countries like Romania have seen a boom in wind energy driven by incorrect Green Energy subsidy policies while the Solar Boom in Czech led to a drastic increase in electricity prices forcing the government to Bust it with a combination of FIT cuts,tax increases and strict regulation.Poland which is the largest Eastern European country in the EU has traditionally depended on Coal to meet most of its Energy Needs.Despite the major disadvantages of Coal,Poland has resisted reducing the support given to the Thermal Power Industry.The cheapness and abudance of Coal has made it hard for Poland to shift its Energy Policy like other Coal dependent nations like South Africa,China and India.
May 12, 2011
Offshore Wind Energy is supposed to increase from around 3 GW today to 75 GW by 2020 as countries in Europe,Asia and North America heavily support this industry.Onshore wind energy growth on the other hand is expected to slow down as 38 GW of Wind Capacity were installed in 2010 with Western Markets showing a sharp slowdown.Note every industry sees costs declining with large capacity except the mature industries.For example Wind Energy has seen a 10% decline in costs for every 100% increase in installed capacity.Note offshore wind projects offer even more Wind Energy Advantages than normal Land Based Wind Farms.The only problem facing offshore wind power is high costs as the industry still is on the learning curve.PWC has come up with a survey where most of the participants say that it will take 10-15 years for offshore wind energy to reach grid parity.What this means is that Offshore Wind Energy Companies will continue to depend on government subsidies like higher electricity prices,tax breaks,low interest loans to survive.
May 12, 2011
The Chinese Wind Industry has around 80 wind turbine companies many of which are quite small and don't' 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 companes in India are fighting for marketshare as well.
May 12, 2011
Power Finance Corporation Green Energy has been floated as a subsidiary of one of India's biggest power sector financier Power Finance Corporation.As the name implies the company's mission is to provide loans to India's Green Energy Industry.Note India requires around $10 billion dollars according to the government plans of building 17 GW of Alternative Energy Capacity in India between 2012-2017 which is low in my view.However even this low target will require a massive amount of debt financing to the tune of around $6-7 billion annually.Power Finance Corporation is one India's largest infrastructure financing companies owned by the government.The company which has billions of dollars of loan assets to the Power sector in India has naturally entered the fast growing Green Energy area as well.
May 12, 2011
StemCell Banking has become the latest marketing fraud to hit the Indian cities with overzealous marketers selling the option to bank the stem cells from the cord blood of newborns for around $2,500.Private storage of one's own cord blood is unlawful in Italy and France, and it is discouraged in some other European states.The companies have massive marketing teams which visit expecting parents with expensive brochures and CDs to convince them of the goodness of stem cell banking.These companies offer to take away the blood from the cord of a newborn from which they will extract the stem cells and store in in facilities for further use in the future.These companies have not only targeting parents but also doctors in India.No doubt paying expensive commissions to doctors ( medical profession in India too has become heavily corrupt).
May 12, 2011
BJP,the chief opposition party in India is finding it hard to fight the ruling party's widespread corruption as its leader are too compromised in land scams of their own.The Karnataka ministers of the BJP are known to be amongst the most corrupt in the country with the CM himself indulging in land scams along with his sons.The Bellary trio of Reddy brothers have amassed billions of dollars through plundering iron ore illegally and having literally bought the government in Karnataka for the BJP with their ill-gotten wealth.Karnataka’s Chief Minister has justified corruption as tradition and despite huge pressure to resign managed to survive due to unique caste politics of India .The Supreme Court has called the corruption in India “mind boggling” while the Chief Vigilance Officer had earlier called 30% of India’s population utterly corrupt.Now the BJP's ministers in the Punjab government have been accused of land scams in the state.Two of the BJP ministers Manoranjan Kalia and Swarna Ram have been implicated in a Land deal on the outskirts of Chandigarh.Kalia holds the industries and local bodies portfolio, Ram is social welfare and justice minister.
May 11, 2011
Nuclear Energy has been dealt a very heavy blow with Japan deciding to stop building any new nuclear plants from now onwards.PM Kan in a dramatic move announced that Japan's plan to build 14 new nuclear reactors which would increase the share of nuclear power to 50% from 30% has been canceled.The new energy plan of Japan will have more focus on renewable energy and energy efficiency.Note Germany had already shut down 7 of its old nuclear plants with immediate effect following the Fukushima disaster.These nuclear reactors have almost no chance of being started back as hundreds of thousands of German protested against nuclear energy and the Green Party won its first government in Germany.Italy and Switzerland too have put their nuclear power plants under review while other countries too are slowing down the approval process for new nuclear reactors.Nuclear Power in its current form seems to be dying in the developed world with other developed countries too facing opposition to nuclear plants.Note the effects of Nuclear Radiation are quite deadly and widespread even in lower doses or sieverts as was brought to the fore during the Fukushima disaster.It can lead to billions of dollars in lost economic activity.Already 3 major disasters have unfolded in the last 40 years in USA,Russia and Japan despite the safety touted by the Nuclear Industry.
May 10, 2011
E-waste generally consists of obsolete devices such as DVDs, CDs, floppies, tapes and electronic components including chips, processors, mother boards, printed circuit boards and industrial electronics. E-waste contains many hazardous substances like heavy metals, PVC plastics, brominated flame retardants.When disposed off in a landfill, it becomes a conglomeration of plastic and steel casings, circuit boards, glass tubes, wires, resistors, capacitors, fluorescent tubes, and other assorted parts and materials. It is both valuable as a source of secondary raw material, and toxic if treated and discarded improperly. he USA discards 30 million computers each year and 100 million phones are disposed of in Europe each year. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that only 15-20% of e-waste is recycled, the rest of these electronics go directly into landfills and incinerators.India's rapidly growing economy generates more than 500,000 tons of electronic waste every year, a number expected to reach 1 million tons by 2012. The obsolete computer and cellphone parts are dismantled, refurbished and recycled manually by hundreds of thousands of unorganized villagers across the country.
May 10, 2011
JSW Energy has set up JSW Green Energy a 100% subsidiary to enter the renewable energy in India.Not while Wind Power in India is already a huge industry with more than $3 billion in annual investment,Solar Power in India is set to eclipse this soon.JSW Green Energy is looking to set up solar power plants and solar rooftops in the country.For this it has ordered 500 KW of CIGs solar panels from embattled American Thin Film company Energy Conversion Devices.Note ENER is already under huge pressure as it fails to compete with low cost Chinese players.ENER which markets its BIPV Solar Panels under the United Solar brand sells mostly in France and Italy which have higher subsidies for BIPV Panels.Like other American companies ECD has significantly ramped down and moved Green Jobs to Mexico in order to suriveNote CIGs Panels are of lower efficiency than the normal mainstream crystalline solar panels.ENER Solar Panels are mostly used in BIPV and BAPV applications since they are not as cost effective and efficient as normal solar panels.Thin Film in India is rapidly increasing penetration with the Thin Film Leader First Solar targeting 100 MW of Solar Panels in 2010 itself which would make it the biggest solar panel supplier in India.
May 10, 2011
Mongolia has been chosen by the two countries to open a nuclear wastes storage site for their companies radioactive waste.GE-Hitachi and Toshiba-Westinghouse are two of the three largest nuclear equipment suppliers in the world and have big plans to export billions of dollars of reactors to emerging markets.These will generate huge levels of waste which would need disposing of.Mongolia is a convenient dumping ground as it a developing country with lax environmental laws.The country has big plans for uranium extraction and building on nuclear power plants as well.Another case of dumping of toxic waste on developing countries by developed countries.Note the citizens of Japan and USA have made life difficult for those wanting to construct permanent nuclear waste storage facilities.Having failed to dump dangerous waste near their citizens,the government of these countries plan to dump the radioactive waste on poor citizens of Mongolia.
May 10, 2011
Power Finance Corporation (PFC) will raise ~$1 billion through a follow-on-public offer (FPO) which is the first divestment by the Government for FY12.Note the government of India has set a target to raise $9 billion through divestment of public sector (PSU) companies stocks.PTC India Financial Services another company operating in the same segment offering finance to power generation companies came out with an IPO.Despite advantages of growth,a good business model in India’s booming Energy Sector,the valuation of the company had been kept too high leading to 20-30% losses from the IPO price.However PFC does not have a high valuation trading for around 9-10x P/E which is comparable to the competitors like REC.However the valuation is not very low also keeping in mind the rising interest rate environment which is making life tough for the Indian Banks and financial intermediaries.Power Finance Corporation has substantial advantages of growth,a good business model in India’s booming Electricity Sector where the List of Power Companies are growing exponentially.The valuation of the company also has been kept at a reasonable level at a discount of around 5% from the prevailing stock market price.The growth of the company has been impressive but a rising interest rate environment,competition from other power finance government providers like IFCI,IDFC,REC makes the issue neutral.It is always possible to buy the stock later or buy competitors in the same space like REC.The stock is a good buy for the long term given the fundamentals,good business sector,however current short term macro problems does not make it a great buy currently.
May 10, 2011
Solar Power in India is set to be one of the biggest energy industries in the 21st century due to a unique set of favorable converging factors with declining cost the biggest one.The Indian government has recognized this fact and set a 20 GW of solar energy capacity target by 2022 and Indian states are boosting solar energy too through their own set of subsidies and solar supportive policies as well.However a number of problems have cropped up in the initial phases as solar electricity price is still high at Rs 14-16 unit compared to the retail electricity price of around Rs 4-5/unit.Though solar subsidies by the government should provide support till the prices come down.Major Indian solar companies like Moser Baer,Lanco are predicting that the solar electricity costs will fall by 40% or more in the next 3-5 years as technology improves,scale increases and more of the components like glass,solar inverters are manufactured domestically substituting expensive imports from countries like China and Taiwan.
May 10, 2011
The Smart Meter Industry like the rest of the Smart Grid Industry is seeing an astounding pace of consolidation as big industrial conglomerates like Siemens,ABB,Schneider Electric and others gobble up smaller companies at a rapid pace.Smart Meter Manufacturers which were already not many are growing even smaller as the smaller independent companies are acquired by the larger more established giant MNCs.The Energy Efficiency and the Smart Grid industries will see a rapid growth as the demand grows for reducing global greenhouse emissions,increasing amounts of renewable energy integration into the grid and rising prices of fossil fuels.Unlike solar and wind industry,independent companies in the Smart Grid are not as large as they require relationships with utilities,a bigger portfolio of products and longer history to survive.Bigger companies like Cisco,Honeywell,GE have mentioned the importance of Energy Efficiency and are going all out to achieve dominance.Smart Meter Manufacturers which traditionally had a presence in the water and gas metering area have found a huge growth area in the Electricity Smart Metering industry.With the power grid almost a 100 years old,newer smarter meters are needed as essential pieces of infrastructure to implement a smart grid.Here is a list of the major smart meter manufacturers.
May 10, 2011
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.This has led to a mini manufacturing boom in the province with a number of companies like Conergy,MEMC,Enphase,Canadian Solar putting up factories to take advantage of the FIT.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.
May 8, 2011
Note the stock fell before it announced the results after the close of the markets which means that insider trading had take n place.The volumes at 10 times certainly seems to hint so as the JP Morgan downgrade of the stock could not have led to such a big fall in which there are a large number of foreign and domestic funds as investors.Besides its problems in Andhra Pradesh are hardly new and Indian brokers hardly that good that their reports cause such big stock price movements.Like other SEBI probes expect this one to fail or result in a small penatly which will not deter more such white collar fraunds in the Indian Stock Market.Insider Trading in India is quite widespread with some of the biggest business groups having been fined by SEBI like ADAG etc.
May 8, 2011
India has a massive potential in Solar Energy with at least 20 GW of Solar Power to be installed by 2022 according to the JNNSM Plan.This […]
May 8, 2011
Gujarat has been leading Indian states in the Solar Energy sector signing PPAs to build more than 900 MW of power capacity in the next couple of years even as the federal subsidy JNNSM flounders.Gujarat is one of the leading industrialized states in the country and has been looking to boost renewable energy sources like Tidal Energy,Offshore Wind Energy,Geothermal Energy as well.Wind Energy has also been in the radar of the state government which is looking to realize the 10 GW potential of Wind Energy in the state.After a strong 2009 when 295 MW of Wind Power was installed that slowed down to 100 MW.The main reason was the unavailability of the power grid to connect wind power plants.Note Gujarat possesses one of the best wind sites in the country in the western part of Saurahstra.
May 7, 2011
HAREDA which is the state renewable energy development agency akin to MNRE at the centre will put these solar farms under a fast track approval process.Note Red Tape in India is quite notorious especially for small project developers who lack the connections and resources to get things done.Note Haryana gives seperate incentives on its own for solar energy,solar water heaters and solar lighting as well.Haryana is desperately deficient in renewable energy despite being one of the most industrialized and fastest growing states in the country.Haryana cities like Gurgaon and Faridabad have benefited hugely from being part of India’s National Capital Region (NCR).However Haryana only generates 0.5% of its 4000 MW of Electricity from Renewable Energy Sources.The state has negligible Wind or Biomass Energy.Despite a Department of Renewable Energy being setup to specifically promote the use of Alternative Energy Sources,the state has not had much success.Haryana is richly endowed with Solar Energy Resources with 320 days sunny days.The State has managed to win some allocation from the centre’s JNNSM scheme.It is also promoting the use of solar energy through disseminating solar kits amongst 2000 schools and providing solar lighting in around 500 villages.
May 7, 2011
India's Shipping Industry has constantly declined despite the Indian economy growing by almost 8-10% in the past 5 years .Indian Flag Vessel marketshare has reduced to under 10% in 2010 from 37%.It is because the Shipping Industry suffers from a lack of good companies . The largest company is the state owned SCI which has been tardy in expanding capacity to take advantage.Recently SCI has given orders to increase fleet capacity by more than 50%.Government policies have also been not too favorable despite shipping being a very strategic industry from the point of view of defense.Note in times of war the country's merchant fleet forms one of the most important weapons in the arsenal needed for logistics and transporation of war materials and personnel.
Note Shipping is a cyclical industry and currently the industry is facing rough weather as the global shipping industry is facing a supply glut.However that's no reason for Indian shipping industry to face a trough as its marketshare remains quite low.Unlike other sectors like autos,steel,oil and gas,the shipping industry has failed to compete and as a result has become a minnow in its own backyard.