7 TIPS TO EXPAND YOUR SOLAR MARKET USING FACEBOOK

2) Market creation

     Facebook is made to connect different people all over the continents and to share their status, images, videos .in short to make virtual world on the internet .there are many people who just use Facebook for fun. They won't give any kind of attention to your latest product, your success rate or your company position in the market. Until and unless u find out how to attract them on your page.  You have to think on new aspect. Instead of finding your market try to create your new market here is the example of creating market for solar water heater business

   Key targets:- 1) hotels

                       2) Hostels

                       3) Residential bungalows

                       4) Hospitals

   Start campaign for schools, collages through which you can spread awareness about use of solar energy products, always remember that students are more concerned about the renewable energy & climate change issue they can be a effective medium for mouth to mouth publicity of your brand. So try to involve them in your FB page. You can also start question & answer session on your page through which you can effectively able to make strong & reliable image in the market.

     For hotels and hospitals try to make efficient design model for installation & maintenance service. use your statistical records for making of new cost effective models for different demands. Introduce new plans on your page.

     Suggest your existing consumers to upload there feedback, reaction about your products new visitors would like to see such kind of consumer response.     

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7 TIPS TO EXPAND YOUR SOLAR MARKET USING FACEBOOK

  No matter whether you are selling solar water heater for residential use or established solar power generating company, you can follow this simple, effective & proved steps to maximize your impact on the people

    few years ago there were some postulates about netizens that they are temporary people, there memory lost within some clicks, they never takes your view ,comments seriously, you can't  depend on them as a reliable market sector.

    But now definitions are changed we can see the impact of netizens on our business, they are strong enough to trigger the revolution in some countries. Now online marketing is become essential for instant growth of our business. And there is one way to reach up to those large democratic people is Facebook

    Facebook is the one door which opens many paths. Paths which are neat & safe. Population of Facebook users are increasing day by day. Billion and more people gather there to share text, images, videos and knowledge. This post is not to explain how use full Facebook is for online business, it’s well defined by many blogger before this. This post is to explain how to use Facebook for particular solar industry market.

   

       1)   Profile page:

     Your Facebook page reflects your company's personality so be sure which kind of information you want to upload on the page, my opinion is that state your accurate information details and don't try to show bigger numbers. People may go to remember you by your page view .so just try to make it in that way.

     Solar business is growing vastly. Many investors are jumping into this race, to stand in such competition where many factors are same in both the competitors. You have to show the comparisons between you and others .how beneficial you are than others. You can use your statistics to impress consumers upload your success stories in your page .establish two way communication between your audience .new viewers would like to read feedback of your existing consumers.                                       

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Delicate issue on the use of solar street light

Now a day’s awareness about solar street light is rapidly growing traffic signals, gardens, apartments, schools, hospitals are there targets. It’s really good thing that we are maximizing our solar energy uses & trying to keep our nature cooler than before.

       But on the other side do we really making efficient energy management? Or just spending more energy to save little. there are many question arises when we talk about maintenance require for solar street light .basic assumption is that they doesn't need any maintenance but there are some issues like dust layers, theft protection, battery life, working time are still neglected. You can observe that half of them are switched off at all time, covered by thick dust layer which is considerably reduces its efficiency.

      Another main issue is that does it worth to spend money on solar street light where main utility is actually supplying power?? Or invest on solar where main electrification line is unable to rich??

      Decision is ours whether "just go for greener or be smarter”

THE CONCENTRATED SOLAR POWER (CSP) OPPORTUNITY IN INDIA

Mr. Lavleen Singal is the Founder of Acira Solar, a solar thermal power producer. Acira Solar has technology partnerships with international technology companies that have been involved in the development and operation of solar thermal power projects. Mr. Singhal also advises BRIDGE TO INDIA on CSP.

Falling costs of concentrated solar power (CSP) development make India a promising opportunity for this industry. However, to realize this opportunity, some challenges need to be overcome.

Globally, CSP technology is competing with falling cost of PV technology However, India is one of the countries that hold most promise for CSP; it is believed that costs can be driven down significantly in India

Unavailability of data is a significant challenge that hinders pre project preparation – considered necessary for CSP projects

The Government of India did well to kick-start India’s ambitious National Solar Mission (NSM) to install 20,000MW solar power projects by year 2022. The Indian CSP industry responded with equal enthusiasm. In the first phase, 66 bids for an aggregate capacity of 2,911MW were received against a requirement of 470MW capacity. The LCOE of selected bidders ranged from INR10.49 (EUR0.16) per kWh to INR12.24 (EUR0.18) per kWh against a price of INR15.31 (EUR0.23) per kWh recommended by the central regulator. It signaled a welcome phase for CSP of falling costs and sustained deployment.

Seven projects totaling 470 MW are under implementation, with most site development work completed, installation of solar field components commenced and all equipment ordered from the respective vendors. Although the date for completion and commercial generation is March 31st 2013, it is unlikely that projects will start supplying electricity to the grid by then.

The NSM document envisages construction of up to 9,000MW grid connected capacity by 2017. In its 9th plan document to the Planning Commission, the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has sought funds to provide Generation Based Incentive (GBI) for 2,500MW of capacity and the NVVN has offered to ‘bundle’ 1,500MW of this capacity. The balance capacity is likely to be met through a strong Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) with a ‘bankable’ Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) scheme.

However, globally, these are difficult times for CSP. This is due to the declining costs of PV modules. With better viability, simpler technology, easier construction and maintenance, many developers have preferred to convert their CSP projects to ones with PV technology. From a present deployment of approximately 2,000MW to an anticipated 20,000MW capacity for CSP by 2020 seems highly unlikely under the current scenario.

Nonetheless, India is one of the few countries that hold the maximum promise for CSP projects. We can expect a deployment rate of a minimum 1,000MW per year until 2017 as well as about 500MW of pilot demonstration projects. Additionally, Indian states are likely to implement an additional 100MW of CSP projects per year in select states where the solar resource is good.

Policy makers in India view CSP favorably due to its ability to ‘store’ and generate electricity when needed; hybridization with coal, gas and biomass; and the fact that smaller plants with storage meet the needs of rural India where it is technically and economically not feasible to supply ‘conventional’ electricity. Developers and planners also strongly believe that the Indian industry has the capability to drive down the costs of CSP faster than the international market. It is already known that site development, civil works, construction, installation and commissioning costs are significantly lower than the rest of the world. As a result, it may be possible to implement a fully optimized CSP project within EUR2/W without storage. A typical 100MW plant ought to cost less than INR13.5billion (EUR195m) with an expected electricity output exceeding 200GWh/year using parabolic trough technology (without storage) at the right locations.

Anticipating a further reduction in costs, especially for thermal storage, CSP projects could become more feasible than at present, once the on-going projects have been implemented and their performance gauged. It is for these reasons that the Indian market for CSP holds the maximum promise at this juncture. This, however, is only part of the story. Pre-project work is an absolute necessity while planning CSP projects, particularly in India. Solar radiation data, particularly DNI data is simply not available. Without solar resource characterization it is nearly impossible to optimize the solar field and thermal storage size to achieve the lowest levelized cost of electricity. Therefore, proper site selection, land acquisition, installation of solar meteorological stations (measuring data for at least one year), pre-project feasibility; identification of Indian vendors and assessment of their quality, cost and performance are some of the key pre-project issues that must be addressed. Proper pre-feasibility studies would lead to an accurate assessment of the ‘bid price’, but more importantly a ‘letter of comfort’ from financial institutions for non-recourse debt financing could be one of the key metrics to the successful development of CSP projects.

THE MARKET THIS QUARTER: STATUS OF PV MANUFACTURING IN INDIA

Mr. Kai Bollhorn is responsible for research on supply trends and upstream industry as part of the Market Intelligenceteam at BRIDGE TO INDIA.

In the last quarter (July – September 2012), Indian manufacturers continued to struggle with the crash in global module prices. With little policy support and dwindling company finances, there is little or no room for investments into upgrading manufacturing capabilities.

• Contract manufacturing for international module suppliers is proving to be a source of revenue for domestic manufacturers
• Downward integration to engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) is working for some manufacturers in the industry

In the current adapt-or perish market scenario, a few Indian module manufacturers have adapted to the conditions in the market in the following ways: downward integration to project development and/or EPC tie up with international module suppliers for contract manufacturing and/or shift in focus to capture opportunities in niche markets in India.

In August, Tata BP Solar India formally announced its name change to Tata Power Solar Systems. This is a part of a previously announced restructuring. Tata Power Solar Systems is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Power. Tata BP Solar is a pioneer with module manufacturing in India since the early 1990′s and has a track record in building projects, especially off-grid. This restructuring is expected to bring about a shift in the company’s focus to project development and execution.

Contract manufacturing for international module suppliers is proving to be another source of revenue for the domestic manufacturing industry. Some Indian manufacturers partly or fully lease their manufacturing facilities to international module suppliers. Such a contractual agreement provides international companies access to the market under the Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) [for cells and modules]. This also provides module suppliers an opportunity to capture an initial market share. An initial market share can provide companies strong early visibility and proof of performance in the Indian market. This can provide a significant first mover advantage. International module suppliers have existing contracts for procurement of raw materials for their modules. They can channelize a part of the raw material delivery to India. Placing large orders for raw materials to meet the demand for their global operations gives them a purchasing advantage in terms of cost. They also have streamlined processes that they have developed internationally with years of experience. This allows them to retain their competitiveness for India. Several international module manufacturers are looking to set up contract manufacturing to supply to projects under phase two of the National Solar Mission (NSM) starting 2013. BRIDGE TO INDIA’s industry conversations find that at least two European module manufacturers, a European power major and a Chinese module manufacturer (names cannot be disclosed) have either set up or are in the process of setting up contract manufacturing in India. From the information available on a few such contracts, typical yearly contracted production capacities in India are around 30-50MW. Indian manufacturers that have tied up for such contracts might become financially more stable and improve their production processes with the expertise of their international contractor.

Downward integration to EPC has worked to some extent for module manufacturers like Vikram Solar. It has obtained contracts under batch two of phase one of the NSM in this quarter and the Gujarat Solar Policy previously. The current projects under the NSM give Vikram Solar a pipeline of 40MW for module supply and EPC. Lanco Solar, that is providing EPC for Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL), is expected to use its own modules. Enfield Infrastructure is developing a 10MW project under the batch two of phase one of the NSM and is expected to use its own modules that are being manufactured under the name of Sonthalia Group.

Downward integration to EPC has worked to some extent for module manufacturers like Vikram Solar. It has obtained contracts under batch two of phase one of the NSM in this quarter and the Gujarat Solar Policy previously. The current projects under the NSM give Vikram Solar a pipeline of 40MW for module supply and EPC. Lanco Solar, that is providing EPC for Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL), is expected to use its own modules. Enfield Infrastructure is developing a 10MW project under the batch two of phase one of the NSM and is expected to use its own modules that are being manufactured under the name of Sonthalia Group.