Guest posts

Guest Article: The Market Scope of Renewable Energy Business in India

India is country that is most recognized for its deep cultural roots, and its significant contributions to the history of the world. In terms of modernity, India is not necessarily the first country that comes to mind. This way of viewing India is changing however; with India making great strides and going through one of the most significant economic boom periods in modern history. One surprising area where India is actually a leader among nations, is that of India’s commitment to renewable energy.

Conventional wisdom says that emerging nations can’t afford to focus on renewable energy initiatives. The old model says that countries that want to succeed must grow their economies by any means necessary, and worry about the environmental impacts later. India has turned this notion on its ear; using the renewable energy business as a method of boosting its economy significantly. This home-grown Indian ingenuity has shocked the world; with so-called “modern” nations now looking to the Indian model for inspiration in solving their own environmental (and economic) concerns.

One of the most remarkable things about the Indian renewable energy market is that the country of India is as much a producer of renewable energy products as it is a consumer. The net effect of this unique situation is that both the production and consumption of renewable provide benefit to the Indian economy. This enviable situation is one that other nations would love to match.

India entered the renewable sector early. At a time when renewable energy was largely an untested niche-sector, with more emotional attraction than economic promise; India gambled that this sector was one worth making a substantial commitment to. In the early 1980’s, India established a government ministry for the purpose of developing non-conventional energy resources, including renewable. Currently, renewable energy concerns fall under the purview of India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

Among the earliest renewable energy sources that India committed its resources to developing was that of solar energy. Working with the United Nations, India established a loan program enabling home owners to purchase solar power generators and related materials. The program served to bring viable energy options to far-flung corners of the nation, with tens of thousands people signing up. Of course, the program spurred a solar power, and solar power support services, industry that is still thriving in India today.

In the 90’s, India began to seriously develop its wind power capabilities. This sector of the Indian renewable energy market has experienced a ramp-up effort in recent years. Today, India has the fifth largest wind power generation capacity of any nation on earth. With plenty of land that is ideal for the generation of wind power, it is reasonable to expect wind energy development to expand there.

Another sector that India is making great inroads into is that of waste-to-energy. By converting sewage and industrial waste into fuel products, India reduces its consumption of fossil fuels. This lowers the amount of environmental damage caused by the use of conventional fuel usage in the country. As the Indian population continues to expand, waste-to-energy will become an increasingly more important part of India’s overall energy and environmental portfolios.

Renewable energy sector output growth in India fuels the need for greater expansion of the sector. An Indian worker who receives a high paying job in the sector suddenly has access to financial products such as a home mortgage, or an auto loan. Taking out that auto loan and purchasing a car, means more greenhouse emissions, and the possibility of greater pollution. This in turn motivates the Indian government to pursue more effective methods of reducing environmental pollution nationwide, for the good of the entire country.

Guest Article : Geneva International Auto Show Bares All

It is a car lover’s dream to attend the 82nd annual Geneva International Motor show. Creators of present and future technologies worldwide join together for this automobile extravaganza in search of bragging rights. Since 1905, this premier event has captivated professionals and laymen alike. Peugeot is even sponsoring a contest to give away the predecessor of its 207, the sleek 208. Simply fill out an entry form, answers a couple of questions, and you might just get to kiss your auto loan goodbye. The conventional autos on today’s roads are giving away to dramatic engineering innovations. No longer are four wheels a necessity for comfort and safety.
Take the Morgan three-wheeler for example. This two-seater comes equipped with a 120 hp engine which easily catapults its light aluminum frame up or down any winding road. The double wishbone suspension gives this double front wheeled vehicle a smooth ride at every turn. In Addition, the Morgan reveals it new electric and environmentally friendly engine. Going green is fortunately on the minds of big car companies. This is evident as a number of electric and hybrid cars have reached the pedestal.
Hyundai’s I-Oniq concept car is offering a seventy five mile electric charge with a three hundred and sixty mile gas back up. Next is Mini’s new Clubvan designed as a commercial-use vehicle. This economically fuel savvy transport is a two seater with the five doors for easy access and loads of room for cargo. Always present at the auto show is Mercedes Benz. Their latest flower child is the A-Class. This sporty compact car boasts models with high efficiency diesel engine that is almost ninety nine percent emissions free. Finally we come to Tesla’s Model X. This compact sedan has three rows of seats accessible through ‘Falcon’ doors claimed to offer easier access to the second and third row seating.

Now we enter the world of the exotics. Lamborghini makes a stunning appearance with is new Aventador. This dreamcatcher is well endowed with an engine package that propels it from zero to sixty in just under three seconds with a top sped of two hundred miles per hour. Audi stakes its claim with the TT Rs Coupe and the Eco-friendly A8 hybrid. Austin Martin shows off with its V12 Zagato. Only about one hundred and fifty of these five hundred horsepower monster Martins are available, so order yours today. BMW steps it up with its I8 concept car. This futuristic looking bullet is powers by and electric/ gas combination that shoots it from zero to one hundred in just about five seconds.

There are literally hundreds of cars at the Geneva show capable of dropping your jaw. From tiny economy cars to super fast gas guzzlers. The imagination of the scores of creators is staggering. If you are lucky enough to attend, it will be an experience you will not soon forget.

Guest Post: The Business Prospects in Electric Vehicles

The electric vehicle seems like something out of a space-age, Jetsons type of movie but the electric vehicle or EV is sure to become a reality here in the United States the question is who will profit?

An EV is powered by an electric motor, instead of its gasoline-powered predecessors that are still dominating the US highways and bi-ways. Electric vehicles are still somewhat of a novelty to consumers because of the implausibility of their extended use. It is true that electric cars can only get about 50 miles between charges, compared to gasoline powered cars that can get less mileage, about 25-35 miles per gallon, but the key is, there are an abundance of gas stations all over the country. Charging stations are not at all. However, with the rising cost of gas and because EVs are an environmentally friendly alternative, they are fast becoming something that manufacturers and investors are seriously looking into and the more savvy business owners have already started to seriously look into this burgeoning market.

Several reports have stated that electric vehicles will, by the end of this decade, dominate the personal auto market, leaving the gasoline powered car in the dust. The primary motivator for consumers is cost. Consider when you purchased your first vehicle, you were advised, either by a parent or personal research to consider the complete costs of ownership. That did not just include the sticker price of the car but insurance, maintenance, cost of repairs and of course gas. The last ten years have witnessed more consumers making vehicle purchasing choices not because of potential spikes in insurance premiums or even cost of maintenance but gas mileage. Americans are sending hundreds of billions of dollars a year to OPEC in exchange for the privilege of driving and with the economy in dire straits; many consumers just cannot afford that bill any longer. Consider Detroit, Michigan, once the boon of the automotive industry is now a shell of its former self. The production of EVs are much cheaper to run and a lot to cheaper to maintain. Therein lays the profit-motive for businesses. Not only are you providing a product, whose time has come, to consumers, it costs a fraction of the cost of gasoline-powered and even hybrids to manufacture and distribute. Silicon Valley venture capitalist, John Doerr has stated and even testified before the US Senate that this market can potentially account for $6 trillion dollars a year worldwide. As technology advances so must the automotive industry and its reliance on fossil fuel. The American pocketbook and the environment as a whole are the primary motivators and as more people recognize the necessity for “green” resources, so will the demand.

However, business prospects do not just lie within the manufacturing of electric vehicles. There are several industries that can prosper. Charging infrastructures, which are akin to gasoline filling stations will need to proliferate. This is perhaps a market with the best potential. Investing in convenient places for people to charge up can provide unheard of returns.

Kathleen Hubert is a blogger who writes on a variety of different sites. Check out more of her work at http://www.autoloan.org.

Note: The article was shared by our blogger. These are personal thoughts of the author and not the opinion of EVHUB.IN. Any infringement of copyrights should be discussed directly with the author and EVHUB.IN do not bear any responsibility.

Guest Articles: Europe versus India – A Solar Power Showdown

As India has developed economically over the last decade, many people are starting to realise that it has great potential for using solar energy. India has a high population density of 368 people per square kilometre, and so meeting everyone’s energy requirements is an ongoing challenge, which could be helped greatly through the introduction of domestic or commercial sized solar panel installations. India is already reaping the benefits of power generated from wind energy, both environmentally and in terms of developing a reliable energy infrastructure; power shortages are a significant problem in India – losses peaked at 24.7% in 2010, due to problems with transmission and distribution, such as the theft of electricity.

India also has a lot of sunshine, with the greatest solar radiation being to the west of the country, around Ahmadabad, producing over 2,000 kWh of energy per square metre each year. To put that into context, that is enough energy per square metre to run a 40W bulb for just under 6 years!

Many countries in Europe already have a lot of installed capacity, whereas total solar energy currently being produced in India is only 1% of total energy demand, with a mere 10 MW of installed capacity plugged into the grid (i.e. if the electricity isn’t used by the household, it gets sent into the main grid). This compares to an impressive figure of 24,800MW for Germany, with the next biggest European solar producer being Spain at 3,808MW. However, still less than 5% of Europe’s energy is met through solar panels, so there is still much room for improvement there.

In 2008, it was announced that the Indian government would announce an incentive of 80% of generation costs to encourage a greater amount of solar power, which would come in the format of a Rs 3.15 payment per kWh for photovoltaic and thermal power plants. This rate is to be paid out to the first 50MW of installed capacity, just below the current 75MW capacity of the UK, although it is clear that at the moment this target has not yet been reached. The theory supporting this state incentive in India is that large scale installations are the most efficient in terms of cost per kWh produced, and so large solar farms are the best method to establish a large power supply in the quickest way possible and at the lowest cost.

Why, then, has this offer not been taken up, and will India ever catch Europe? Large scale solar is cheap, costing almost nothing in ongoing expenses, but this is only in the long run. In the short run, a very large investment is required to install all of the solar panels, and so the fund-raising for these investments is a tricky process. However, the way that India has decided to invest in solar is very sensible, and is in line with Europe’s models for generating a long term investment in solar energy through subsidies per unit of electricity produced. The key in all of these countries has been for such schemes to be stable, in order to create an optimal environment for investing through increased confidence, and once the scheme in India has been running for a few years more, then hopefully this will help raise the level of photovoltaic power generation to start matching the solar achievements of Europe.

Written by James Hawkins, from a UK solar panels company.

Note: The article was shared by our blogger. These are personal thoughts of the author and not the opinion of EVHUB.IN. Any infringement of copyrights should be discussed directly with the author and EVHUB.IN do not bear any responsibility.

Guest Post: India Looks toward Renewable Energy Future

At the same time, the central government announced on Aug. 10 that it plans to make changes in national solar energy regulation in order to encourage faster expansion in this specific sector.

OPIC likes India’s potential

India is one of the world’s fast-growing economies with a billion people and rapidly growing energy needs. The nation has grappled on how to best supply the power requirements in both the short and long term.

Recent events in Japan have made nuclear energy a much less attractive option and nations around the world have been scrambling for safer renewable energy options.

The OPIC deal was arranged by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as part of the US–India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy, Energy Security and Climate Change (PACE) Initiative. India is well-positioned geographically for solar energy projects and it also has excellent potential in other sustainable energy areas like hydropower, wind and biomass.

Significant spending at the end of 2011

The new OPIC plan entails spending about $600 million in the entire Asian region with about $360 million allotted specifically for India to fund renewable energy projects. In addition, another $520 million will be spent for Indian solar power project financing and insurance before the close of the year.

As part of the agreement, the US Department of Energy (DOE) will set up a bilateral Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Centre, costing $25 million, to coordinate research and development in the fields of solar power production, structural energy efficiency and biofuel production.

The United States is convinced that the Indian renewable energy market has a bright future as manifested recently by the rapid growth in the related equity market. In response, the country is looking to take advantage of the fast growth by brokering deals like PACE.

With America showing so much confidence in the Indian sustainable energy sector, it is almost a certainty that other countries will also want to position themselves to capitalize on this opportunity. For India this should translate into a flood of new investments as different players vie for a place in the energy market.

Government to ease solar rules

In the other outstanding development on the green energy front, the government in New Delhi plans to encourage growth in the solar energy industry by loosening up existing regulation.

Specifically, the rules on timelines and project size will be relaxed with the idea of luring in bigger investors in the solar energy market. An earlier program sought to do the same thing by lowering tariffs and narrowing margins, but it was not very successful.

The fact that the government is not giving up on boosting investment in this sector is definitely a good sign. Current plans call for increasing solar energy generation up to at least 20,000 megawatts by 2022. The first part of this plan entails some 620 MW projects that will be granted in December of this year. In addition, there are plans to call bids later in August for some 300 MW worth of projects.

Growing opposition to nuclear power

The recent nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, has energized the Indian anti-nuclear movement. While New Delhi remains steadfast in pursuing current nuclear plans, there appears to be a growing realization in government on the limits of nuclear power that bode well for the renewable energy industry.

The Fukushima events are expected to drive up the costs of opening and running nuclear plants while increasing the amount of downtime due to maintenance. At the same time, public opposition is expected to continue growing increasing pressure on the government to seek safer renewable energy options.