South Asia Investor Review

Sunny California is leading the way to tap solar energy. Can sunny Pakistan follow to deal with its crippling energy crisis? California based BrightSource Energy , which already has a deal to build a series of huge solar power plants in the Mojave Desert for Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), announced an even larger project recently with Southern California Edison. Brightsource, with its roots in Israel, launched its first big solar project last year in the Negev desert. The World Economic Forum voted BrightSource as a 2009 Technology Pioneer. It was the only solar company to win this year's award, and is recognized for helping industrial customers reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. By 2016, the two companies said, BrightSource will build a series of solar-thermal power plants that will generate 1.3 gigawatts of electricity for Southern California Edison's customers. That's enough power for 845,000 homes, said Stuart Hemphill, the utility's vice pres...

Suzlon, India's wind power giant, has reported a quarterly loss after years of expansion and profit growth. It was hurt mainly by the ongoing global credit crunch, slowing wind turbine sales, and by rising costs and a provision to do repairs stemming from the widely reported quality problems at the wind-turbine manufacturer's overseas plants. Suzlon reported a consolidated net loss of 589.7 million rupees ($12.1 million) for the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with a net profit of 1.52 billion rupees a year earlier. Consolidated total revenue more than doubled to 68.93 billion rupees from 31.7 billion rupees, while consolidated total expenditure surged to 63.19 billion rupees from 28.48 billion rupees, according to media reports. Chairman and Managing Director Tulsi Tanti said the global credit crunch is likely to hit sales growth in the wind-energy sector, which had a compounded annual growth rate of more than 34% over the past five years. But Suzlon said it expects the indus...

India's Suzlon Energy (SUZL: BSE), with 8% market share of wind turbines in the US, is beset by quality issues at home and abroad, according the Wall Street Journal. Suzlon Energy, with market cap of INR 270B, is a wind power company in India. In terms of market share, the company is the largest wind turbine manufacturer in Asia and the fifth largest worldwide. With headquarters in Pune it has several manufacturing sites in India including Pondicherry, Daman, Bhuj and Gandhidham as well as in mainland China, Germany and Belgium. The company is listed on the National Stock Exchange of India and on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The window of opportunity for Suzlon opened up with growing demand for green energy amid global-warming fears and the soaring cost of oil, coupled with shortages of turbines from more established players. The company's less-expensive turbines raised hopes for a reduction in the cost of wind power, which currently is subsidized in many countries, including the...