Posts tagged in the news

Iran Nuclear Plant: Decades Behind Schedule and Over Budget

Finally, Iran is starting up the Bushehr Nuclear power plant, after beginning construction in 1975.  Yes, indeed it has been 35 years of moving like a tortoise to the finish line.  Although figures are not available on its budget, I would make an educated guess that the plant has ended up costing twenty times its original estimate. 

All nuclear plants built in the last 20 years have run over budget.  It is possible to plan, build, and recoup the initial cost to investors for a renewable energy plant before a nuclear plant can even begin construction!  Why is there no debate about building nuclear plants? 

The Western world should just build Iran a gigawatt solar power plant and a gigawatt wind farm.  How about that for counter-terrorism!  Give them what they need (power) without the risk of enriched and reprocessed nuclear fuel, which can be stolen or just used directly in weapons.

China Blocks a US Solar Supplier

In what appears to be no-win situation for the American company First Solar, a Mongolian order to provide panels for a giant solar plant has been squashed by the Chinese government.

The order was written in November of 2009 to great fanfare, coinciding with President Obama’s visit to China.  Only, once the US delegation left and it became time to start construction, the Chinese reviewed that order.

Now, it looks like First Solar is out, and Chinese manufacturers are in.

So, call your Congress person and demand that the US implement a huge tax on Chinese panels coming into the US.  That will make China really think before they close out US manufacturers from their marketplace.

Wind Farm in Texas Made in China?

A 600 megawatt wind farm (about 300 turbines) slated to be commissioned next year will be built primarily with Chinese components.  This is not surprising. 

The fact that US companies make poor competitors in the wind space is a result of uneven and poorly executed US energy policy formulated during the Bush/Cheney “oil guys” years.  

The US has some of the best wind resource in the world, and potentially some of the best demand for wind energy.   In contrast, America is losing miserably in turbine manufacturing volumes.  Out of the top ten global wind turbine manufacturers, only one is based in the US, and that is General Electric.

Fortunately, investors can put their money behind Chinese companies that are winning business such as this new wind farm in Texas: A-Power (APWR) is supplying the components, and you can buy their stock right here on the NASDAQ exchange.

It is ironic that China has largely pushed out most foreign wind competitors in their domestic market, because they see the future globally with wind and want to foster a strong local industry.  On top of this, China is investing $34.5 billion in low carbon technologies this year, while the US is coming in around half of that at $18.6 billion.

As the US continues to focus on wars in the Middle East to protect its oil supplies, China is winning the battle to lead the next generation of renewable energy technologies.

Which country should you be investing in?

I see the recent rise of Tesla Motors as historically significant.

One of the most striking indicators that clean tech is approaching its tipping point is Tesla’s (TSLA) recent public offering. This IPO was one of the few this year in which the offering price was bumped up during road shows. It is miraculous for this to happen against the backdrop of a weak market, and the pall hanging over the US automotive business. In fact, the last company to go public making automobiles was Ford in 1956. After all, Tesla has lost money, sells only one product to the public (the Tesla Roadster), and has little experience manufacturing vehicles in significant quantities after selling only about 1,000 Roadsters around the world. So, why are investors bidding up the price for Tesla’s stock?

For one thing, Toyota invested $50 million in the company a few months ago and just announced Tesla will be supplying drive trains and batteries on a future Rav4 EV. Also, Daimler and Tesla have a development contract that has Tesla making battery packs and drive trains for Daimler’s electric car called Smart for Two, due for release next year in Europe. Certainly there is a trend here. Tesla is inspiring confidence that it can become dominant in a new era of personal electric transportation. Yet, Tesla also seems to be demonstrating the branding potential not only of a clean sexy car, but of the entire clean tech movement: I would wager that the general public is eager to buy the principle of smarter as well as cleaner.

Whether this startup becomes the Edsel of electric cars or more akin to the Apple of computing really doesn’t matter. Tesla is a harbinger of how clean technology will be commonplace in a future that forces naysayers to give up trying to stymie the march of progress.