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Talk about union between the energy industries is nothing new. But over the past six months, oil giants have demonstrated a renewed commitment to acquire teams with renewable expertise. Critically, this time, commitment is matched with resources. Subsea 7, for example, launched its offshore renewable division at the beginning of the year.

I know this is just the beginning. Consider wind. Wind energy is one of Europe's leading renewable energy generation methods and the UK's most common way of generating energy from renewable.

We are uniquely placed to become a net exporter of clean, green power over the next decade. More than 3000 wind turbines are installed onshore and offshore, generating more than five gigawatts (GW) of electricity for the UK. This is over one GW more than the output of our largest coal-fired power station, Drax in Yorkshire.

It is estimated that Scotland houses a quarter of Europe's potential wind and tidal energy capacity and a tenth of its wave resource. Programmes such as The Crown Estate's Offshore Wind Round Three and the Scottish Territorial Waters mean that we have committed to develop more than 40GW of wind generated electricity in the next 15 years.

Statistics like these excite financiers and push collaboration up the boardroom agenda. As the only global executive search consultancy specialising in the energy industries, we observe this trend person by person. Talented executives have found their expertise has a new currency. There are now excellent opportunities for collaboration and learning between the two areas.

However in the UK at present it is only the supply chain that are beginning to recognise new lucrative opportunities as their offshore credibility and expertise is recognised as extremely valuable by the renewable sector. Unfortunately you have to go to Scandinavia to discover an oil and gas player tangibly stepping into offshore wind. There, you will find Dong Energy of Denmark and Statoil of Norway who are trialing offshore wind and tidal turbines.

This month, Maxwell Drummond International launches its Executive Exchange Programme which offers ‘just below board-level' talent the opportunity to spend five days in another business, in a new city, in a new country, in a new sector, to stimulate the very innovation and momentum we need.

Industries must share staff, technology and money, business models, operations and maintenance practices. Some argue the renewables industry will ‘steal' expertise built by the oil and gas industry over the last 30 years. This is not the case.

The chief similarity between the sectors lie in the operating environments: up to 40 per cent of the cost of an offshore wind project is spent on marine installation and associated sub-structure activity. But macroeconomics drive the industries apart again.

The renewables industry is heavily subsidised through the government's renewables obligation scheme and large-scale capital investments are made on a long-term basis of waiting more than 25 years to see a return. Oil and gas industry operators, on the other hand, can make quicker returns on investment particularly as the price of oil continues to rise.

Imagine what could happen if we truly acted as an energy industry, not as oil or gas or wind or wave, locked in protectionism. This way, we will fulfil the potential of each industry and secure the brightest energy future for all.

The timeline is a little cloudy, but Ingersoll's solar farm proposal is moving forward to allow for a final decision on whether or not the project will see the light of day.

About 65 people turned out to a public information meeting on Tuesday about the proposal to debenture $36.2 million to build a 10-megawatt solar energy facility on a 16-hectare parcel of land the town owns.

Located near County Road 19 and Highway 401, the solar farm would be tied into the electricity grid through the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) Feed-in Tariff (FIT) Program. In return, Ingersoll would be guaranteed payment of 44.3 cents per kilowatt over the course of a 20-year contract with OPA.

With construction costs mortgaged over 15 years, the town anticipates net revenue of $2.36 million per year for the first 15 years. Then, with the loan paid off, net revenue is expected to jump to $5.66 million per year for the remaining five years of the contract. The plan is to use the money to minimize future tax increases, maintain existing service levels, repair aging infrastructure and provide new amenities.

Ingersoll was not included in the second round of FIT contracts announced recently by the OPA. That has pushed the town's proposal forward for future consideration but when more contract offers will come is unknown.

Mayor Ted Comiskey said the project could be part of the next round of announcements, but there is no timeline as to when that might be. Meanwhile, the town's proposal is among those subject to a economic connection test (ECT), which determines what upgrades would be required to connect the electricity grid and whether the associated costs make sense.

Comiskey points out the Ingersoll proposal received positive feedback through a peer review conducted by BDO.

"It is a phenomenally viable project, a monetarily rewarding project to the municipality," he said.

The town has passed a bylaw authorizing a financing agreement with the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) but the opportunity to secure funding through CMHC expires at the end of March. That means the town will have to seek funding from another source such as Infrastructure Ontario or a financial institution, Comiskey said. That means the town can shop around to get the best interest rate.

The solar farm is still financially viable even if interest rates rise, Comiskey added. On the other hand, if the town can secure a lower rate than was being considered, the town would see an increase in revenue from what has already been projected.

After the framework is in place, including a contract offer and financing, it's up to council to decide whether or not to proceed with the plan.

Comiskey said he was pleased with the discussion at Tuesday's meeting, which included representation from all parties involved in the proposal.

"It was really nice to hear all the comments and ideas," he said. "I think when people left they were satisfied (that) we went into this with open eyes."

The solar boiler can be easily changed from oil to gas, and the use of a geothermal heat pump is also possible. The integration of the burner or the thermal pump in the storage-tank is a special feature that reduces heat loss to a minimum. However, the most important aspect is the use of solar energy making the burner superfluous at times. The sun-warmed water in the collector is conducted to the patented three-strata tank and layered into the appropriate temperature zones by way of vertical pipes with opening valves. This means that the entire capacity of the tank does not have to be heated to the same temperature. The hot water in the upper section of the tank heats fresh water over a heat exchanger to provide hot water of great purity.

Shares of Chinese solar company Canadian Solar(CSIQ_) were under pressure on Thursday after its fourth-quarter earnings missed consensus expectations by 7 cents, and the solar company guided gross margins significantly lower than the Street for the first quarter of 2011.

Solar sector fourth-quarter earnings have been strong, and expectations for all companies were high, and anything less than perfection met by selling pressure on solar shares. ReneSola(SOL_), for example, turned in a solid fourth quarter but weak shipment guidance for the first quarter of 2011 led to a double-digit selloff.

For Canadian Solar, the fourth-quarter surprise one-time hit to earnings and the outlook weakness are a double whammy at a time of investors being on the trigger finger with solar stocks.

A one-time 17-cent charge to earnings caused a significant miss of the Street mark for the fourth quarter. Gross margins in the fourth quarter were at the low-end of the expected range, 17%. Input costs have been rising for solar companies and pressure on margins expected, though Canadian Solar's guide to gross margins of 14% to 15% in the first quarter 2011 is well below expectations and the guides by peer companies. Wall Street analysts were expecting gross margins of 17.5% in the first quarter.

Canadian Solar said lower margin guidance was due to declines in module ASPs, higher costs in certain raw materials, and low production volume during the Chinese New Year holiday. However, all solar companies are dealing with this same set of conditions, in particular, the higher polysilicon and wafer pricing.

In the case of Canadian Solar, it's a solar company that has just recently come out of the penalty box, too, after having been mired in accounting issues in 2010, and those issues followed previous earnings surprises that led to frustration on Wall Street.

At the time of Canadian Solar's accounting issues, one analyst went as far as to express frustration with the company by quoting a Brittney Spears song, remarking in a research note, "Oops, they did it again."

While the accounting issues are now behind Canadian Solar, the latest earnings from Canadian Solar echoes investor frustration with Canadian Solar. One analyst, who couldn't be quoted until publishing on the company's results, described the results as "a total disappointment."

With macro fears about the changes in Italy to solar policy keeping solar sector stocks under pressure, a lack of execution by solar companies in protecting margins will remain a sensitive issue for investors. Canadian Solar has been moving down the road of vertical integration like many solar companies and Chinese peers, however, the latest results and guidance suggest that investors will keep Canadian Solar on a short leash.

Gamesa Corporacion Tecnologica SA, a Spain-based wind turbine manufacturer, is planning to invest around Rs 630 crore (100 million Euro) to set up new facilities in two Indian states, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Gamesa Wind Turbines (Pvt) Ltd.

Speaking to Business Standard after launching its research and development (R&D) centre in Chennai, Jorge Calvet, chairman and CEO, Gamesa, said that, the one year old Indian subsidiary has started civil works for a blade manufacturing facility and will set up a tower manufacturing facility in Baroda, Gujarat. It would also invest in land acquisition, as part of expansion plans, he added.
Gamesa plans to invest Rs 630 crore in India
The proposed blade manufacturing facility, with a capacity of around 400 sets of 850 Kw blades per annum and the tower manufacturing facility with a capacity of around 400 towers per annum, would be ready for operation by September, 2011.
The tower manufacturing facility is coming up through a joint venture with another company, said Ramesh Kymal, chairman and managing director of Gamesa Wind Turbines (P) Ltd. The total investment for the projects in Gujarat would be Rs 300 crore, he said.

Besides, the company would also set up a manufacturing unit for its G9X-2MW turbines in Chennai with an investment of around Rs 120 crore. Plans are to commence operations in the facility by first quarter of fiscal year 2012-13, he added.

The company would double its staff strength to 1000 people from the current 462 people in a years time, said Calvet. We would invest significantly in human resources, for which the details we cannot disclose. We are keenly implementing a policy, by which, all the new employees will be sent to our training centres in Spain, US or China to train them our global standards, he said.

It has launched its R&D centre and new office in the outskirts of the city, this week. The R&D centre is designed as an extension for its current research and engineering activities in other centres and would have 100 employees in next one year.

Gamesa, a manufacturing company mainly focused on the fabrication of wind turbines and the construction of wind farms, has bagged 200 orders in the first year of operation in India and supplied around 170 machines. The company expects to triple the production in India and has received orders for 300 machines in this calender year, starting from January 2011, said Kymal.

The solar water heater market in South Africa has recorded phenomenal growth during the past four years expanding from less than 20 suppliers in 1997 to more than 400 by the beginning of 2011, finds Frost & Sullivan, the global market intelligence and growth consulting company.

In line with global trends, South Africa’s domestic water heating market is moving away from traditional water heating methods, such as conventional geysers, towards more energy-efficient measures, namely homemade solar water heaters.

Such a development may be due to the fact that domestic water heating accounts for approximately 40% of a household’s electricity bill. 18% of South Africa’s national electricity consumption is allocated toward the heating of water, for residential, commercial, and industrial use.

“Eskom’s load-shedding power crisis of 2007-2008 resulted in a raised awareness of solar water heating as the general public demanded hot water during times of load-shedding, and Eskom advocated the saving benefits that this mechanism could provide,” says Dominic Goncalves, Frost & Sullivan’s Energy and Power Research Analyst.

Eskom subsequently developed a demand-side management program, propagating solar water heaters as a prime mechanism to conserve energy off the strained national grid. The Eskom Rebate Program was established, and a target set for the installation of one million solar water heaters by 2014. “The rationale was that such demand-side management could relieve up to 578 gigawatt hours of electricity from the grid, the equivalent of building a 2,000 megawatt power station,” explains Goncalves.

“Furthermore, solar water heaters are often used during peak times (early morning and evening), the precise time when strained power stations are struggling to produce the required peak-time power,” he says.

However, between 2007 and 2010, the market experienced volatile growth, plagued by malfunctioning products, fly-by-night companies, and incorrect installation and application of the products. Nevertheless, market growth continued, albeit slower than expected, as many suppliers experienced a hush after this initial boom.

“This was caused by the negative reputation that solar water heaters were receiving, due to conflicting information and incorrect product application, as well as initial challenges in the development of the rebate program,” comments Goncalves.

The market began to stabilize somewhat during the second half of 2010 – many fly-by-night companies selling cheap, imported Chinese products out-the-box left the market or changed their strategy, while established companies with good word-of-mouth reputation formed efficient distribution networks, franchises and partnerships.

As these suppliers and installers began to grasp the intricacies of South African climactic conditions such as solar irradiation and the myriad different applications of installing a solar water heater, market development has proceeded in a more ordered manner.

Frost & Sullivan believes that this slow-down in sales is misleading however. New building codes have been announced that will change the face of the market, and conventional plumbing, as we know it.

When the new building codes are officially instated, new buildings or those undergoing refurbishments will be required to account for at least 50% of their hot water consumption to be generated by energy efficient methods, for example solar water heaters or heat pumps.

The demand pressure that this will place on the market to manufacture and install these products is exciting. Frost & Sullivan research has shown that solar water heater manufacturing in South Africa can be conducted at internationally competitive levels for flat plate product types.

Current and potential future manufacturers are preparing for this legislation-driven demand and are set to compete with foreign imports, which are categorized either by low price, large quantity (and often inappropriate technology) products on the one hand, or reputable, global solar water heater manufacturers with developed global distribution networks and more expensive products on the other.

“The key challenge facing the development of the solar water heater market is installation. Solar water heaters require a mix of plumbing and electrical skills, as well as unique solar installation skills, which must be learned,” says Goncalves.

Solar water heater installation is approximately four times more labour intensive than installing a conventional geyser. In addition to this, many skills variables of installing products in different applications needed to be acquired, some of which can only be learned practically: different roofs, roof-restructuring, buildings, piping, latitudinal tilt irradiation, and other variables.

The plumbing industry is currently operating at full capacity; a pool of 3,000 skilled plumbers need to be bolstered by an additional 8,000 if the market is to cope with mass demand of solar water heaters in the next 4-6 years.

The transformation of skills from conventional plumbing to energy-efficient plumbing also requires a different set of skills in order to install heat pumps. These skills are similar to that required for air-conditioning and refrigeration technology.

“To facilitate the transformation of the market, the coordination and communication of planning and implementation between key industry players and government will be required,” comments Goncalves. He adds that adequate skills development is the key to success or else the initiative is doomed to fail.

The manufacturing of some product types is an opportunity for new entrants, who can benefit from manufacturing incentive schemes recently proposed by government in its New Growth Path (NGP). This initiative falls within the key focus areas for development by government, namely job creation, manufacturing, skills development, and the green economy.

For the market as a whole, Frost & Sullivan believes the development of installation skills (both qualitatively and quantitatively) remains the largest challenge.

The policy of ordaining energy efficient building codes is a market support mechanism that has been successful in numerous overseas markets including the cities of Barcelona and Madrid, as well as Austria, Israel and Cyprus.

Ultimately, the solar water heater market is preparing for a second, high growth phase that will be larger than the previous growth surge in South Africa. The key is to address the gaps in the market and be ready to support the change.

The trio are all based around 1/2.33"-type, 14 megapixel CCD image sensors in ultracompact bodies. The Powerflex 470 couples this to a Rollei Apogon-branded 7x optical zoom lens whose actual focal lengths range from 5 to 35mm, equating to everything from a useful 28mm-equivalent wide angle to a 196mm-equivalent telephoto. Maximum aperture varies from f/3.0 at wide angle to f/5.9 at telephoto. On its rear panel, the Rollei 470 sports a 3-inch LCD panel with 230,000 dot resolution, the sole option on which to frame and review images and movies. The latter can be recorded at up to 720p (1,280 x 720 pixel) high-definition resolution with a rate of 30 frames per second, using Motion JPEG compression.di

Rollei's Powerflex 470 digital camera. Photo provided by RCP-Technik GmbH & Co. KG. The Rollei Powerflex 460, meanwhile, retains the same LCD panel, image sensor and video specifications, but switches out the lens for one of lesser zoom range. The Rollei 460's Apogon-branded 5x optical zoom lens provides actual focal lengths from 4.7 to 23.5mm. This yields a slightly more generous 26mm wide angle, but a significantly less powerful 130mm telephoto. Maximum aperture at wide angle is just slightly brighter at f/2.8, but despite the reduced zoom range, this falls to a rather dim f/6.5 by the telephoto position.

Rollei's Powerflex 460 digital camera. Photo provided by RCP-Technik GmbH & Co. KG. Finally, the Rollei Powerflex 455 is similar to the Powerflex 460, but swaps out the LCD panel for a slightly smaller 2.7-inch unit. Total dot count of this panel is the same as that on the other two cameras, so although it has less surface area, it also has slightly reduced dot pitch.

Rollei's Powerflex 455 digital camera. Photo provided by RCP-Technik GmbH & Co. KG. All three models ship from April 2011 in the European market. The Powerflex 455 is priced at around €130 and will be offered in black, silver, red and pink, the Powerflex 460 at €180 in black, silver or pink, and the Powerflex 470 at €200 in black, red, silver, or pink.