News & Analysis

Current cumulative solar installations in India stand at 1,761 MW with about 557 MW installed so far in 2013. With most of the CSP projects that were due to be commissioned in May 2013 delayed, the forecast for installations in 2013 looks flat compared to 2012. Only about 60 percent of the targeted installation goal has been achieved so far despite the commissioning deadline of Phase 1 of JNNSM ending in May. Considering India is an emerging solar market where the growth rate is expected to be much higher than other parts of the world, installations in 2013 will likely end up disappointing the markets. The current solar policy environment looks more like an experiment than a serious policy that will help solve the current power crisis in India.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, released its report on funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the wind sector during the first quarter of 2013.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, released its report on funding and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity for the smart grid sector during the first quarter of 2013.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, released its report on funding and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity for the solar sector during the first quarter of 2013. Global venture capital (VC) investments dipped to $126 million in 26 deals in Q1 2013 compared to $220 million in 27 deals in the previous quarter. The slump in VC funding, which started in Q3 2012, continued. This is the second lowest quarter for VC funding since 2008.

Despite all the struggles experienced by the industry over the past few years, global solar installations still managed to grow, mainly due to Germany defying expectations and installing 7.6 GW in 2012. Final installation numbers are still trickling in and it looks like the global installations for 2012 will be in the 30-32 GW range. We are forecasting 2013 installations at 34.5 GW.

Before examining the reasons surrounding India’s solar manufacturing anti-dumping investigation, one overarching point must be made clear: India needs power. It is estimated that there are roughly 400 million Indians without access to power – roughly a third of the country, according to World Bank.

Investors in the PV solar industry have worked to properly understand and price their solar projects, and thus determine the return on their investments. The PV solar industry has responded by moving the pricing discussion from a capacity basis to an energy generation basis. IE they have moved from a cost per watt conversation to a cost per kilowatt-hour. The cost of this energy generation is usually represented by an estimated "levelized cost of electricity" or "LCOE". Yet, since the real purpose of the LCOE is to help price projects, it helps to be clear on what assumptions to have built into your LCOE. Otherwise, you may not have properly calculated your cost versus revenues or understood the magnitude of the margin of error in the LCOE estimate. And this will not just damage your portfolio - it will damage your reputation.

India installed -980 MW in 2012, slightly lower than our forecast of 1,090 MW. This was largely due to delays in Gujarat to commission 144.5 MW of PV projects; most states missed their renewable portfolio obligations (RPO) goals as enforcement is almost non-existent. Cumulative installations to date in India now stand at over 1.2 GW. In addition, there are 340 MW of PV projects due to be connected to the grid in March 2013 under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) Phase I, Batch 2 policy. We are forecasting India to install another 1.3 to 1.4 GW in 2013.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, released its report on funding and mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity for the smart grid sector during 2012. After a slow start, venture capital (VC) funding in the smart grid sector came in at $434 million in 40 deals, compared to $377 million in 50 deals in 2011.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, released its report on funding and mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity for the wind sector during 2012. Coming out of a very uncertain 2012, venture capital (VC) funding in the wind sector was slightly lower than 2011, amounting to nearly $315 million in 22 deals.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, released its report on funding and mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity for the solar sector during 2012. Venture capital (VC) investments plunged nearly 50 percent to $992 million in 103 deals in 2012 compared to $1.9 billion raised in 108 deals in the previous year. The 2012 total represents the lowest amount since 2007.

This year (2012) has been a rough and tumble year for the solar industry in general. The year was consumed by anti-dumping and protectionist measures all over the world as countries tried to rescue their own manufacturers in the face of massive over supply and ever-falling prices. So far we have seen the United States announcing final anti-dumping tariffs against Chinese manufacturers (which has yet to have much of an impact on U.S. installations), followed by the European Union filing a similar case also against the Chinese. Meanwhile, China announced its own anti-dumping case against polysilicon suppliers from the United States, EU and South Korea while India just initiated an anti-dumping investigation regarding imports of solar cells against Malaysia, China, Taiwan and the U.S. further escalating the solar trade wars.

There was not a lot of movement in terms of solar installations in India in Q3 2012. Cumulative solar installations stood at 1,045 MW as of November 1, 2012, but there are about 1.1 GW of solar projects that are due to be installed in the next six months, including approximately 275 MW of PV projects in Gujarat with a deadline of December 31, 2012 and 340 MW of PV projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), due by March 2013. Another 27.5 MW of CSP projects, which were part of the JNNSM Migration scheme, are due by February 2013 along with 470 MW of JNNSM Batch II CSP projects are due by May 2013.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released its report on funding and mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity for the wind sector during the third quarter of 2012.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released its report on funding and mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity for the smart grid sector during the third quarter of 2012.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released its report on funding and mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity for the solar sector during the third quarter of 2012.

Solar demand continues to defy odds so far in 2012, which may result in another year of growth contrary to pessimistic views early in the year.

India has crossed the symbolic milestone of 1 GW in installations this year; at the time of this update, cumulative solar installations in India stood at approximately 1,040 MW. India can proudly boast that it has overcome the uncertainties and growing pains to establish itself as one of the top solar markets going forward. The Indian solar market is driven by Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) with a goal to install 20 GW of solar power by 2022, however state solar policies, state level RPOs and off grid projects are quickly catching up.

The massive grid failure in India last week affected over 600 million people. With speculations abound as to the reasons for the failure, we decided to talk to engineers working at the load despatch centers on the ground to get a firsthand understanding of what really happened.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global communications and consulting firm, today released its report on funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the wind sector during the second quarter of 2012.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global communications and consulting firm, today released its report on funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the smart grid sector during the second quarter of 2012.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released its report on funding and mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity for the solar sector during the second quarter of 2012.

Venture capital (VC) funding in the first quarter came in strong with $240 million going into a record number of 12 deals, compared to just $12 million going into two deals last quarter.

The lackluster venture capital (VC) investing trend in smart grid continued into this year with a weak first quarter of $62 million going into 10 deals, compared to the last quarter with $66 million in ten deals. Funding amounts and deals are staying flat after peaking in 2010.

Venture Capital (VC) funding in the solar sector was off to a slow start in Q1 2012. VC funding for the quarter came to $329 million in 34 deals, the lowest dollar amount recorded since Q4 2010; however, VC investors were still very active in the sector with a record 34 deals funded, the highest ever recorded in the solar industry.

With almost 27GW of photovoltaic (PV) installed worldwide, 2011 was a year of extremes for the solar industry - record installations, a dramatic fall in module prices and a record number of companies closing their doors.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released its annual and fourth quarter merger and acquisition (M&A) and funding activity for the smart grid sector for 2011.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released its annual and fourth quarter funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity report for the wind sector in 2011.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released its annual and fourth quarter funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity report for the solar sector in 2011.

According to the preliminary numbers compiled by Mercom Capital Group, Venture Capital (VC) funding in the solar sector so far this year has surpassed 2010 totals. Year to date VC funding (as of Nov. 30, 2011) amounts to $1.71 billion compared to $1.67 billion in in 2010.

After a tumultuous first half, with huge price drops and uncertainty on just about everything, we are finally seeing some positive signs in terms of demand pick up. With the module prices now in the $1.00 - $1.10 (USD) range amounting to almost a 40 percent drop in prices compared to the $1.80 levels in the first quarter, one might expect a huge spike in demand but it did not happen.

Third quarter solar installations in Germany amounted to 1.6 gigawatts (GW) according to Bundesnetzagentur. This brings the year to date installations in Germany to 3.35 GW. Installation numbers for June, July, August and September were just released by Bundesnetzagentur.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) announced in August that 35 of the 37 photovoltaic (PV) projects amounting to 140MW were able to submit evidence of funding and all of the seven concentrated solar power (CSP) projects amounting to 470MW were able to secure funding under Phase 1, Batch 1 of JNNSM. This is a very optimistic sign for the JNNSM solar program as there were doubts about the ability to secure funding on most of the projects due to the low bids submitted. What is not clear is if these projects were mostly funded by banks and financial institutions as project funding or if they were primarily funded through balance sheet funding. All PV projects in Batch 1 are due to be commissioned around the second week of January 2012 and Batch 1 CSP projects are due to be commissioned in May of 2013.

Mercom Capital Group llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the solar sector for the third quarter of 2011.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the Smart Grid sector during the third quarter of 2011. Smart Grid venture capital (VC) funding in Q3 2011 came in at $97 million in 10 deals, compared to $104 million in 15 deals in Q2 2011. Thirty-one different investors participated in these funding rounds.

Mercom Capital Group llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the wind energy sector for the third quarter of 2011.

Loans and credit facilities by state owned Chinese banks to Chinese solar companies announced in multiple transactions amounted to almost $41 billion since last year. In 2010 loans and credit facilities amounted to $32.6 billion and year to date in 2011 has amounted to $8.1 billion.

According to a first-of-its-kind survey conducted by Mercom Capital Group titled 'India Renewable Energy Awareness Survey,' only 56% of Indian consumers have heard of 'renewable energy' or 'clean energy', and only 27% of consumers have heard of 'energy efficiency'. Although awareness was low, 71% of Indian consumers surveyed are willing to pay higher rates for electricity from renewable energy sources.

New guidelines were issued by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and the present set of guidelines is applicable to the Second Batch of the photovoltaic projects to be selected during 2011-12. These guidelines will have no bearing on the projects which were selected in the First Batch in 2010-11. There are several changes in the guidelines for batch 2 compared to the guidelines of batch 1.

The first half of 2011 has been less than stellar for the global photovoltaic (PV) markets, but there are some strong indicators that demand pick-up will be much stronger in the second half of 2011. However, we have to add a disclaimer that all bets are off if the European debt crisis cannot be managed, or the US falls back into recession. In short, global economic turmoil of the moment, unless fixed, might become a problem if subsidies are affected or funding gets tougher to secure.

Mercom Capital Group llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the solar sector for the second quarter of 2011.

Mercom Capital Group llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the Smart Grid sector for the second quarter of 2011.

Mercom Capital Group llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the wind energy sector for the second quarter of 2011.

By the end of the second quarter 2011, the whole of India’s solar sector was waiting anxiously for the looming deadline of July 9th - the date that project developers were to have secured funding for JNNSM Phase 1 (Batch 1) projects. This date has gained even more significance after the Secretary of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) publicly stated that projects that did not receive funding by this date would not get an extension, with outright project cancellations to follow. Companies were given six months from the PPA signing date to secure their financing.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the solar sector during the first quarter of 2011.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the Smart Grid sector during the first quarter of 2011.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the wind energy sector for the first quarter of 2011.

After the launch of India’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), the world’s solar markets have been closely monitoring its progress. Particular interest is focused on the program’s movement from the policy stage into execution.

As we started putting together a global consensus forecast, traumatic events in Japan and the “wait-and-see” situation in Italy reminded us of just how interconnected our solar markets are and how quickly the world energy landscape can change when events such as a nuclear meltdown changes attitudes across the globe. This could be a turning point for renewable energy as speculation heats up about that the potential for 50-60gigawatts (GW) of nuclear power capacity being delayed or outright cancelled.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy market intelligence, consulting and communications firm, today released 2010 merger and acquisition (M&A) and funding activity for the cleantech sectors of solar, smart grid and wind.

With more than 9,000 delegates, over 250 speakers and 600 exhibitors from 50 countries, DIREC 2010 turned out to be the most significant event for renewable energy held in India this year.

In a recent conversation with a PV industry executive, I heard a common refrain about the U.S. PV market. "We are not factoring in significant growth in the U.S. market in the near term. It has disappointed us over the past few years as analysts and marketing personnel forecast gigawatt levels of demand." Another comment was "Given trends in the industry, especially recent pricing trends, do you really think the US will show significant growth in the next couple of years?"

Mercom Capital Group released merger and acquisition (M&A) and funding activity for solar, smart grid and wind sectors for the third quarter of 2010.

India's Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), a major initiative of the government of India, has set itself a goal of creating an enabling policy framework for deploying 20GW of solar power by 2022. India's objectives and intentions are commendable. Yet, as we have seen globally, once governments announce their intentions to develop a solar incentive program - a variety of interest groups, each with their own agenda, get involved to put their stamp on the policy. The final output of the recently released policy guidelines reflects both the overarching objectives of developing clean solar power, addressing power shortages and stakeholder concessions.

Mercom Communications India, Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Mercom Capital Group, a clean energy communications and consulting firm attended the SOLARCON India 2010 conference held in Hyderabad last week. Having also attended 2009 SOLARCON, the difference in the mood was evident, with a rush of participant interest and enthusiasm. In 2009 participants were unsure of what the future of the sector had in store for them and relied on speculation about the future of the industry, whereas this year the conversation centered on achieving targets set by the ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM).

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released M&A and funding activity for solar, smart grid and wind sectors for the second quarter of 2010.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released M&A, funding, financing and loan activity on the solar, wind and smart grid sectors for the first quarter of 2010.

I asked Al Velosa, Director of Research at Gartner, what the solar industry should watch for as the European debt crisis unfolds. By Raj Prabhu

After some setbacks in the first and second quarter, venture capital investments in greentech saw its second best year in dollars invested and a record year for the most deals funded in 2009, according to Greentech Media.

As you look at the PV market on a global basis, there is a general wave of optimism as we have seen the general pick-up in demand. Germany spearheaded this drive with a great recovery in the past quarter, and will remain the world's largest market in 2010. We've seen large projects installed in the U.S. in Florida, with promising project pipelines across the U.S. The Feed in Tariff in Ontario has demonstrated strong demand up in Canada.

Mercom Capital Group, LLC, an Austin-based public relations, public affairs and market intelligence firm, is pleased to announce that Raj Prabhu, Mercom's managing partner, has been invited to speak at the 2009 Texas Renewable Energy Industry Associate (TREIA) conference held in Austin Texas at November 8 -10, 2009.

Venture Capital investment in greentech looked a lot healthier in the third quarter of 2009 compared to the previous two quarters of this year according to a report by Greentech Media.

For clean energy companies, wading through a maze of federal, state and local policies as well as financial incentives can be a very intimidating task. Yet it is absolutely essential in order to get to the next level of competitiveness in an extremely dynamic and fluid industry. Within the 50 U.S. states, there are currently over 750 varying financial incentives and over 350 different policies at the federal, state, county and local levels to be dealt with in order to stay competitive and take advantage of the opportunities available in the marketplace.

The 3rd Renewable Energy India 2009 Expo held in New Delhi, India on Aug 10-12, 2009, had an impressive turnout from around the world. The event echoed the mood of the renewable energy industry in India, upbeat, yet uncertain. The participants were very excited about the future of renewable energies but were unsure about the effects of the global recession and the support the renewable energy sectors will receive from the Government of India.