Solar energy-breakthrough

Solar energy prices to come down with tech breakthrough

M RAMESH

CHENNAI, OCTOBER 27:  

As India gears up for solar projects under the recently-overhauled National Solar Mission programme, a breakthrough in polysilicon manufacturing promises to make solar energy at ₹6 or less per kilowatt-hour (kWhr) possible.

Across the world, solar technologists have been grappling with the issue of converting more of sun’s energy falling on solar panels into electricity. While chasing ‘efficiency’ has been the primary means of achieving cost-reduction, a US-headquartered company, which is active in India, has achieved a technological breakthrough in the manufacture of Polysilicon, a key raw material.

SunEdison’s “high pressure fluidised bed reactor” technology has made energy costs of producing polysilicon “irrelevant”, according to Pashupathy Gopalan, who head’s the US solar giant’s Asia-Pacific operations.

Effective

Conventional manufacturing processes consumes 40-50 kWhr of electricity to make a kilogram of polysilicon. In contrast, SunEdison’s FBR technology would need 3-5 kWhr. A corollary of this is the point that with energy costs coming down so drastically, it now makes sense to put up a polysilicon plant in India.

The FBR technology was recently implemented in a polysilicon plant in Korea, a joint venture of SunEdison and Samsung Fine Chemicals.

Cost factor

The technology will enable SunEdison — which is a solar power plant owner as well as a polysilicon and modules producer — to deliver ‘400 Watt peak’ modules at cost of 40 US dollar cents by 2016.

In simpler terms, this means you would need 25,000 of SunEdison’s modules per MW of solar power capacity, against 33,000 of conventional ones. As a result, the plant would call for lesser land and “balance of systems” such as electrical and civil work. Consequently, the costs will come down considerably and solar power developers could profitably sell their electricity at ₹6 a unit, Pashupathy Gopalan told BusinessLine.

Asked if SunEdison would put up a polysilicon plant in India, he noted that such a project would call for an investment of about $2 billion and a decision would depend upon the Government’s support. While India has the lure of the market, other countries are more attractive for large-scale projects.

The recently-reworked National Solar Mission has raised the targets. The Government wants to see 15 GW by 2019, as part of its 100 GW ambition, compared with the earlier target of 22,000 by 2020.

SunEdison owns about 100 MW of solar power plants in India, and is building a 100 more and is the largest foreign investor in the Indian solar sector.

(This article was published on October 27, 2014)

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/macro-economy/solar-energy-prices-to-come-down-with-tech-breakthrough/article6538683.ece

Black money in India: HSBC list has 628 names, top amount $18 mn

Appu Esthose Suresh | New Delhi | Updated: Oct 26 2014, 13:47 IST

Only about a fifth of the individuals or entities named in the so-called HSBC black money list on India of alleged foreign account holders have acknowledged their ownership of the accounts. These individuals or entities — 136 in number — have either paid, or are in the process of paying, penalties for concealing incomes.

The HSBC black money list contains names and holdings of individuals or entities with accounts in the Geneva branch of HSBC's Swiss subsidiary HSBC Private Bank. The information was stolen from the bank by a former employee on a particular day in 2006. The list was given to India by France in June 2011.

According to documents accessed by The Indian Express, the HSBC list contains names of 628 Indian individuals or entities. The Income Tax Department has so far found matches between names and addresses in 418 cases. In 282 of these cases, however, either the account number or the balance in the account is not available.

In general, the list contains four sets of information: name, address, account number and balance.

Of the 136 individuals or entities who have acknowledged the accounts, many have pleaded that they were not aware of their existence, but would pay the tax and penalty due, senior I-T officers involved in the investigation said. Many of these 136 accounts show zero balance.

The addresses against 12 of the 418 names in the list belong to Kolkata. However, only six have confirmed that the account belongs to them.

The highest amount in the list is $ 18 million, allegedly belonging to two top industrialists.

The most common surnames on the list are Mehta and Patel.

French authorities had secured the list from software technologist Hervé Falciani, who has been collaborating with several European countries tracking suspected tax evaders with accounts in Swiss banks. The list contains alleged account data on the date Falciani procured them.

The Indian Express was the first to report in August 2011 that the French had handed over to India the list of HSBC account holders of Indian origin. The government is in the process of sending a list of 50 names from the 136 to Swiss authorities to confirm the authenticity of the information.

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/black-money-in-india-hsbc-list-has-628-names-top-amount-18-mn/1301633