Contributing Member of the Energy & Industrials Councils

GLG News by this Author

GLG News is now G+ Insights

G+ is a community for professionals, academics and entrepreneurs to connect through online discussions and in-person meetings. You will continue to see G+ Insights (formerly GLG News) here as well as on the G+ website, where you can share and discuss the G+ Insights you read.

MMTC figures are not bench mark about demand of Iron Ore.

May 4, 2009

Analysis of:India iron ore exports sank over 50% in April. | www.yourindustrynews.com

MMTC (Mineral and Metal Trading Corporation of India) is one Government of India Undertaking Company. The work culture of this company is entirely different than any professionally managed corporate house. All decisions are decided by top person(s) and no body can take any independent decision without clearance from top management, mostly from concerned Ministry of Mines and Minerals - Government of India, not even for “Press Releases”. Apart from this, iron ore export by MMTC is only around 7% to 9% of total iron ore exported from India. However it is true that there is slump in export of iron ore from India during fiscal year 2008 – 2009 as well as during April 2009

Pickens Mega Wind Farm Project: Unreliable source of energy stuck up at unreliable time

November 20, 2008

Analysis of:USA-Pickens Puts Texas Wind Farm Project On Hold | www.kbtx.com

A report from the Dept of Energy said in May 2008 that US could build enough wind farms to provide 20% of country’s electricity by 2030. At that time oil prices were $147 a barrel, Boone Pickens calls for US to achieve this by building wind farms throughout the windy corridor from Texas to Dakotas. It would cost $1 trillion to build and another $200 billion to connect to power starved areas far away from the wind energy corridor. Pickens has ordered $2 billions worth of wind turbines from GE  to build world’s largest wind farm in Texas. He told Senate committee that he is willing to pay for the transmission lines that will carry Pampa’s power to Dallas to avoid further delay.  Now oil prices are below $60 a barrel so Pickens has put wind project on hold. Pickens’ plan focus on using natural gas as transportation fuel and depend on wind and solar power to take place of natural gas as a source of generating electricity. Currently natural gas generates about 20% of electricity in the US.

What is wrong with Auatralia’s leading iron ore miners?

November 14, 2008

Analysis of:Australian miners cut iron ouput as China slows | www.theaustralian.news.com.au

China announced US$ 586 billion stimulus plan. Their planners are trying to make “CHINA’S EXPORT DRIVEN ECONOMY TO DOMESTIC DRIVEN” and will spend this amount in next 2 years. Focus will be in 10 areas, mainly post earthquake reconstruction, low cost housing, infrastructure etc. To achive such huge task, lots of commodities will be consumed. Therefore all global stock exchanges cheered this announcement by raising the share prices of commodities and services that are linked with Chinese plan. It is worth to state that iron ore is one of the major commodity reqired for such huge construction activities. Contrary to welcome above development, very next day Australia’s 3 biggest iron ore miners Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Fortescue announced cut their iron ore output. This include suspension of mining activity at Rio’s Brockman 2 mine which produces 20 million tonnes iron ore per year. Surprisingly same day shares of BHP finished up 7 per cent at $30.05 and Rio rose 8 per cent to $78.  

Will Indian metal, natural resources & commodity industries benefit from China’s recently announced $ 586 billion stimulus plan?

November 13, 2008

Analysis of:China announces $586 billion stimulus plan | ap.google.com

Exit of FDI from Indian equity market has shockingly pushed all infrastructure, steel, transport, natural resources and allied industries’ stocks towards South side. Presently Indian infrastructure, real estate, construction, steel, iron ore, shipping & hotel industry are worst suffered due to liquidity crunch and higher interest rates. Prime properties in all cities are available at a price 30 to 45% less than a year ago but find no buyer. Mid and small mine owners are planning to close their business as they do not find it viable to continue. In spite of respective ministry’s various subsidies and abolishment / reduction in duties, many industries are not achieving even bottom line. First it was land acquisition and environmental issues, now it is inability to achieve the financial closure for many mega power, steel, energy, infrastructure and special economic zone projects. Almost all major industries has differed the expansion / modernization of their existing plants.         

Whether buying Corus was a wise decision by Tata Group?

November 12, 2008

Analysis of:Steelmaker Corus to Cut Production by 30% | industryweek.com

Corus is Europe’s 2nd largest steel producer which produces over 20 Mn tones crude steel with annual revenue of around 12 billion GBP. Corus was acquired by India based Tata Steel for $ 13.7 Bn. during April 2007. The company has steel manufacturing facilities in Britain and Netherlands. After merger, Tata Corus become world’s fifth largest steel producer with annual production capacity over 25 million tonnes per year. Tata Group is one of the largest private company in India with interest in steel, automobiles, information technology, communication, power, tea and hotels. The group has operations in more than 85 countries. The companies which form major part of Tata Group include Tata Corus Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consulting Services, Tata Tea, Titan Industries, Tata Power, Tata Communication and Taj Group of Hotel which owns Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, ranked as one of the best business hotel of the world. Tata Motor was recently in news about launching world’s cheapest car “Nano”

Let somebody find the root cause of Suzlon's failure

November 10, 2008

Analysis of:Windmill Mishap Weighs on Suzlon | online.wsj.com

I have more than 35 years experience in power & energy industry that includes fossil (Coal & Gas) based power plants as well as non conventional energy like hydro power & wind energy farms. I was key person for selection of vendors / OEM suppliers among all leading Wind Energy vendors e.g. Suzlon, Enercon, Vestas RRB and NEG Mecon, for development of two wind energy farms with total capacity of 40 MW in India. I have done extensive research before selection of Vendor by preparing comparative techno-economic comparative matrix. I have visited all vendors’ existing farms, manufacturing units and corporate offices. 

Wind Turbine Generation Farms are not reliable source of energy

July 30, 2008

Analysis of: When the wind stops - the other side of the wind turbine argument | www.telegraph.co.uk

I have come across one negative analysis about my published topic. I stand with contains of my published article. The said article was written based on my physical experience while developing two wind energy generation farms in south and west part of India. Duding vendor development process, I have personally interacted with all four leading Wind Energy Generation OEM suppliers of India. Anybody in doubt is free to cross check with some Wind Energy Farm owner in India.

Wind Turbine Generation Farms are not reliable source of energy

July 28, 2008

Analysis of: When the wind stops - the other side of the wind turbine argument | www.telegraph.co.uk

As a normal procedure, Wind Farms are developed at selected sites after installing wind masts at proposed sites and wind conditions are observed for at least one year. But this is not a proven technology. Due to many factors, depending on local conditions, Wind conditions may vary from what was observed during testing period before site selection. There are numerous examples and this is the main reason no single OEM Supplier is ready to give guarentee for generation, even for a single year. Such vendors are very clever and always provide designed / calculated generation in their offer to prospective Wind Farm Developers. The maximum guarentee is provided against "Machine Availability" that is useless in absence of required wind speed. This clearly shows their intention to fool the investors. As wind power generation is not a guarenteed product, wind energy can not be traeted as real answer to climate change.

Page : 11 to 8 of 8