India × Cleantech — July 2021
Originally published on Future Trends.
Welcome to another issue of our new India x Cleantech series! On a monthly basis, we are pulling news from across clean technology sectors in India into a single, concise summary article about the country.
Cleantech Investments
Acme Sells Stake In 250-Megawatt Solar Power Project To Foreign Investors
Acme Cleantech has sold a 49% stake in a 250-megawatt solar power project currently under development in the state of Rajasthan. Denmark’s IFU has acquired 39% on behalf of the Danish SGD Investment Fund while the United Nations’ Sustainable Infrastructure Impact Investments (S3i) has acquired 10% stake in the project.
Scatec Solar Buys 50% Stake In Acme’s 900-megawatt Solar Project
Scatec Solar has agreed to acquire a 50% equity stake in a 900-megawatt solar power project that Acme Cleantech is developing in the state of Rajasthan. The project was awarded to Acme in a 2018 auction conducted by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). Acme had quoted a record-low bid of Rs 2.44 (¢3.29) per kilowatt-hour.
1366 Technologies To Invest $300 Million In Solar Module Production In India
US-based 1366 Technologies is looking to invest $300 million to set up a facility in India for solar wafer and cell production. The company is backed by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures and has North Bridge Venture Partners and Polaris Partners as investors. The company plans to set up the production facility under the Indian government’s production-linked incentive scheme and is looking for Indian companies to partner with.
Renewable Energy & Batteries
Indian Gas Utility Plans To Bid For 400 Megawatts Of Solar Power
GAIL will bid for 400 megawatts of solar power capacity in a tender issued by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). The capacity would be spread across three projects planned to be commissioned in the state of Madhya Pradesh. GAIL owns limited renewable energy capacity, mostly in the form of rooftop solar projects and some wind energy projects. The company, however, has been aggressively looking for acquisitions and partnerships.
Tata Group Commissions India’s Largest Solar Carport
Tata Power has announced that it has commissioned a solar-powered carport in Pune, Maharashtra, India. The company claims that the 6.2-megawatt carport is the largest of its kind in the country. The project, commissioned at Tata Motors’ plant, can generate 8.6 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and offset 7,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year. The project is spread across 30,000 square meters and will be used as covered parking for finished cars manufactured by Tata Motors.
Reliance Group Plans $10 Billion Investment in Solar, Storage, & Hydrogen
Mukesh Ambani-led industrial conglomerate Reliance Industries has announced aggressive plans to invest more than Rs 750 billion over next three years to build manufacturing facilities for solar cells, energy storage, electrolyzers and fuel cells. All manufacturing facilities would be based in western state of Gujarat.
GE Bags 148.5-Megawatt Wind Turbine Order
GE Renewable Energy has bagged an order to supply 55 units of its 2.7 MW onshore wind turbine from Continuum Wind Energy. GE would also provide long-term maintenance to the project. Continuum had secured the project through an auction conduction by the Solar Energy Corporation of India. The project would be located in Gujarat.
Solex Energy Plans Module Production Expansion
Gujarat-based Solex Energy has placed an order for 1.2 gigawatts of module production equipment. The company plans to complete 600 megawatts of module production line by October this year and add another 600 megawatt subsequently. The company also plans to set up solar cell production capacity in the future.
Indian Railways Issues Tender For 740 Megawatts Of Solar Power
Railway Energy Management Company has floated a 740-megawatt solar power tender inviting bids from developers to set up projects across eight states. The majority of the capacity would be located in Gujarat (317 megawatts) followed by Bihar (109 megawatts), Rajasthan (84 megawatts), and Madhya Pradesh. Developers would be obligated to use only Indian-made solar cells and modules for these projects.
Gujarat Signs Contract For 2.5 Gigawatts Of Solar Power
Power distribution utilities in Gujarat have signed power purchase agreements with nearly 4,000 small-scale solar power projects with a total capacity of 2.5 gigawatts. The projects would be commissioned over the next 18 months. The size of each project will rage between 0.5 and 4 megawatts.
Module Manufacturer Goldi Plans 5-Gigawatt Production Capacity
Indian module manufacturer Goldi Solar has announced plans to expand its manufacturing capacity to 2.5 gigawatts by March 2022. It currently has a production capacity of 500 megawatts. The company eventually plans to have a production capacity of 5 gigawatts.
Young EV-centric brand ZEEKR is continuing its efforts to become a globally recognized name in the space as it gears up for an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) this week. The Geely-owned sub-brand will go public later this week and seeks a valuation of over 5 billion dollars.
It’s only been three years since Chinese automotive conglomerate Geely Holding launched ZEEKR – a new EV-focused sub-brand focused on delivering premium zero-emissions mobility to compete against the likes of NIO and Tesla.
In that short time, ZEEKR has already launched a refreshed multiple models, including its flagship 001 shooting brake and its 009 multi-purpose vehicle (MPV). We’ve also seen a new bespoke sedan called the 007 and another incoming electric van called the MIX.
This past February, Geely announced that ZEEKR had secured $750 million in Series A funding, valuing the EV sub-brand at around $13 billion when the investment is completed.
Three months later, ZEEKR is issuing depository shares in an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, seeking a significantly lower valuation—a telling metric on the current state of the value of Chinese EV automakers in the US market.
ZEEKR files with SEC ahead of US IPO
According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last Friday, ZEEKR Intelligent Technology Holding Limited is gearing up for an IPO on the NYSE that will represent 175,000,000 ordinary shares (17,500,000 American Depository Shares).
In the filing, ZEEKR said it expects its IPO to garner prices between $18 and $21 per ADS, meaning the Chinese automaker is looking to raise as much as $367 million. That also puts ZEEKR’s targeted valuation for the IPO at $5.13 billion.
For perspective, some of ZEEKR’s competitors are already traded on the NYSE, including NIO ($NIO), XPeng Motors ($XPEV), and Li Auto ($LI), whose market capitalizations were $11.6 billion, $8.55 billion, and $29.7 billion, respectively, at market close on Friday.
While ZEEKR’s expected valuation is relative to its competitors, it’s significantly lower than originally anticipated as last fall, the automaker said a US IPO would offer a valuation of around $18 billion.
Per the filing, ZEEKR will have 2,440,846,254 ordinary shares outstanding upon completion of the IPO as long as underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs. ZEEKR said it will trade under the ticker symbol “ZK” and intends to ring this opening bell in New York City on May 10.
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Elon Musk’s no.2 at Tesla, Tom Zhu, is going back to his responsibilities as VP of China as the CEO isolates himself at the top.
Zhu has long been the leader of Tesla’s operations in China and led the very successful Gigafactory Shanghai effort.
Gigafactory Shanghai quickly became Tesla’s best-performing manufacturing facility and to replicate the success in Texas, Musk made Zhu in charge of all Gigafactories back in late 2022.
However, we reported that Zhu was taking an even bigger role at Tesla as Musk was busy running several other companies and spending especially more time at his newly acquired Twitter.
We exclusively reported that Zhu was even made in charge of North American sales and became the de facto head of Tesla’s automotive business – second in command to Musk at Tesla.
He was elevated to the critical “leadership” at Tesla that need to reported their stock transaction to the SEC:
In recent months, Musk took over North American sale operations from Zhu, according to sources familiar with the matter.
As we reported during our podcast last Friday, several sources told Electrek that Tom Zhu was stepping down from his responsibilities with Tesla in North America.
Now, several media in China are confirming that Zhu is indeed coming back to China to lead Tesla’s operations there.
With several rounds of layoffs and executive departures over the last month, it is resulting in Elon Musk isolating himself at the top.
Tesla has to identify critical executives who need to report their stock holdings and transactions to the SEC. The automaker already had a limited official leadership for a company of its size, but even its limited bench was cut by 50% in just a month:
Electrek’s Take
I have talked before about a theory that Musk is cleaning house at Tesla at a time when his leadership is being challenged through his compensation package, which is sort of turning into a confidence vote.
With not as deep of a bench, Musk is making himself more critical at Tesla. At the same time, some of his fans have been pushing a narrative that he will leave Tesla if the shareholders don’t reapprove his compensation package.
The CEO claimed the contrary in the trial over the compensation package, but he has conveniently not denied the theory at this time.
Both Zhu and Baglino were seen as potential replacements for CEO or even potential new COO to support Musk.
Now, one of them is not at Tesla anymore and the other is going back to China.
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Environment
U.S. oil rises as Israel tells Palestinians to evacuate Rafah, Saudi Aramco increases prices
Palestinians, including children, collect usable belongings in the heavily damaged buildings after Israeli attacks in Rafah, Gaza on February 12, 2024. Building targeted in the Israeli attacks and surrounding structures were damaged as Israel’s air, land and sea attacks continue on the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Jehad Alshrafi/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Jehad Alshrafi | Anadolu | Getty Images
U.S. oil rose Monday, trying to recover from last week’s steep declines, after Israel told Palestinians to evacuate the southern Gaza city of Rafah, and Saudi Aramco raised its official crude prices.
Here are today’s energy prices:
- West Texas Intermediate June contract: $78.88 a barrel, up 77 cents, or 1%. Year to date, U.S. crude oil has gained 10%.
- Brent July contract: $83.66 a barrel, up 70 cents, or 0.83%. Year to date, the global benchmark has risen 8.5%.
- RBOB Gasoline June contract: $2.56 per gallon, up 0.27%. Year to date, gasoline futures have risen about 22%.
- Natural Gas June contract: $2.18 per thousand cubic feet, up 1.63%. Year to date, gas has fallen about 13.4%.
Oil dropped more than 6% last week, as traders rolled back geopolitical risk premium on fears of war between Iran and Israel, and as crude inventories in the U.S. surged on weaker demand.
WTI vs. Brent
But tensions in the Middle East are rising again after the Israel Defense Forces told some 100,000 Palestinians to leave the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Efforts to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas have stalled again, with the two sides accusing each other of sabotaging a deal.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed that Israel would not submit to international pressure to end the war in Gaza until Hamas is defeated.
“If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone,” Netanyahu said in a speech commemorating the Holocaust at Yad Vashem. “And I say to you, we will defeat our genocidal enemies. Never again is now.”
And Saudi Arabia raised the prices of its flagship crude destined for Asia for the third consecutive month, according to a price list seen by Bloomberg News. The price hike suggests Riyadh sees robust demand on the horizon.
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