What’s Happening Outside The United States
ABB/Brazil—ABB is to design-supply-install two
230kV main substations and 104 unitary 36kV “compact secondary substations”
under a $19 million contract from Suzlon—which is said to be “the world’s third-largest
manufacturer of wind turbines.” The units will be installed in the Brazilian
states of Ceara and Rio Grande do Norte.
ABB/Germany—the company will acquire a 35% stake
in Novatec Solar (Karlsruhe, Germany), which is in the concentrated solar power
(CSP) business. Also in the deal: ABB acquired the right to buy the other 65%
of Novatec, if it so desires. Price paid was face down.
ABB/India—ABB’s largest-ever single order is
a $900 million deal to deliver an “ultra-high-voltage transmission system,”
according to Reuters (March 23). Buyer: Power Grid of India. What: A transmission
line that will take hydropower from one place to another—the end is 1,728 km
(1,073 miles) from the start. The previous largest order was for an offshore
wind farm connected to the German grid—only $700 million.
According to a separate (Reuters) report, Bharat
Heavy Electricals—India’s top power equipment maker—has a $353 million piece
of the ABB order.
Alcan Cable/Mexico—this unit of Rio Tinto has
created a new entity for cable ops in Mexico, Alcan Cable de Mexico (headquartered
in Monterey).
Al Jaber Lighting—this member of the Al Jaber
Group of companies has opened a new lighting showroom (next to company headquarters)
in Mussafah, Abu Dhabi.
AMSC/South Korea—American Superconductor (AMSC)
said it received a contract from Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction
for wind turbine electrical control systems. The deal will see AMSC begin supplying
the systems in this year’s second half and complete the $10 million-plus agreement
by mid-year 2012.
APT/Asia—Advanced Protection Technologies (Clearwater,
Fla.), which claims to be “the largest private-label manufacturer of SPDs in
North America,” said early this year that it would open an office in Singapore
to boost its efforts in Asia.
Bajaj Electricals of India—according to a Feb.
21 news report, this electrical products maker (part of the $7 billion Bajaj
Group) “will shortly enter into solar appliances…to trade in on the rising rage
for environment-friendly products and break through more into rural areas which
visage severe power shortage.”
A separate March 4 report (on www.business-standard.com) said Bajaj Electricals is aiming at 38% growth in the current fiscal
year. “The 72-year-old company has six strategic business units—appliances,
fans, engineering and projects, luminaires, lighting, and Morphy Richards,”
according to the item. Bajaj has about a 70% market share—in Orissa, one of
India’s states—in “consumer electrical products.”
Echelon-Itochu/Japan—Itochu said (by Bloomberg.com)
to be “Japan’s fourth-biggest trading company,” will sell Echelon’s smart-grid
equipment and software in Japan.
Echelon/Russia—Echelon’s NES Energy Control
System is one of five solutions being pursued in a pilot project (it’s about
the smart grid) by a subsidiary of MRSK Group, a large Russian utility.
Emerson/India—Emerson’s Network Power unit will
design six Internet datacenters for Datacraft India. The facilities are to be
located in Ahmedabad, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Jaipur, Ludhiana, and Mumbai.
Emerson/Ireland—the Sustainable Energy Authority
of Ireland has added the Trinergy UPS from Chloride (now a unit of Emerson)
to its “Triple E product list.” That list is said to be a registry of products
that, under Irish law, qualify for a first-year-of-purchase 100% tax write-off.
Emerson/Ukraine—Emerson Network Power and Alpha
Grissin Infotech Ukraine have signed a new deal (building on an agreement created
in February 2010).
Enphase/Europe—Enphase Energy, which makes solar
microinverter systems, opened offices in France and Italy, it said March 3.
EV charging in Bury St. Edmunds—according to
a release, IES is the U.K. distributor for the GARO Group of Sweden, “one of
the world’s leading EV charging station manufacturers.” IES recently supplied
two of the chargers to Cale Briparc UK for installation in Bury St. Edmunds.
Fagerhuit acquires Designplan Lighting—Sweden-based
Fagerhuit, which says its 2,000 employees and operations in 17 countries make
it one of Europe’s largest lighting concerns, has acquired Designplan Lighting
(180 employees, with nearly $18 million in annual sales) of the U.K. The acquired
company makes weather- and vandal-resistant lighting fixtures, according to
closeupmedia.com.
Furukawa/South America—from Business News Americas
(Feb. 2): “The Brazilian unit of Japanese cable supplier Furukawa Industrial
expects its factory in Argentina to reach full production capacity this year…the
factory is currently at about 80%. The facility opened in 2008 (cost: $3 million)
and can produce 220,000km of fiber-optic cables annually.
Gerard Lighting of Australia—the first half
of its fiscal year (ended Dec. 31, 2010) saw sales of roughly $202 million,
up 15.6% from the half-year ended June 30, 2010. A report in The Advertiser
of Australia (2/23) quoted Simon Gerard, managing director: “Australia is
a very open country with low barriers to entry. That allows small operators
to come in with a lower price.”
Harju Elekter of Estonia—a news item (Feb. 28)
on www.baltic-course.com noted that this company’s Q4 sales were up 27% on year-earlier results,
while full-year sales (roughly $54.5 million) rose all of 1.1% over 2009. According
to the report: “The core business of the group is production and sales of electrical
distribution systems and control panels as well as other supportive side activities.”
Havells India—
- Cable and wire—the company said it would double its revenue from
cable and wire business by 2013, according to economictimes.indiatimes.com.
If that works out, wire and cable sales in 2013 would be roughly $530 million.
- Overseas sales—according to a Jan. 4 article in The Economic Times
of India, Sylvania—the brand name Havells has the right to use outside the
United States represented “nearly half of the company’s consolidated revenues
in the first half of FY11.” It’s not clear from the context whether this refers
to the whole company.
According to the article, Sylvania improved its operating margin from “almost
nil” last year to 4.6% in FY11’s first half. How? “Exiting from unprofitable
businesses and outsourcing manufacturing to low-cost locations such as India
and China.”
- What it makes—a December article on DNAindia.com noted that “Havells
has bright prospects.” The company makes “industrial and domestic circuit
protection switchgears, wires and cables, motors, fans, power capacitors,
CFL lamps, luminaires, modular switches, and electric geysers.” Brand names
under which Havells sells these things in India: “Havells, Standard, Crabtree,
Sylvania, Concord, Lumiance, Claude, Linolite, and SLI Lighting.”
AND: “Havells has 11 manufacturing units in India and six
abroad. It has a pan-India presence through 4,300 wholesalers and 35,000 retailers.”
Sales by segment: cable and wires, 40%; “switchgears,” 28%; lighting, 16%; and
“electrical consumer durables,” 16%.
Hongkong name change—Hongkong Electric Holdings
in mid-February changed its name to Power Assets Holdings.
Japan/fuel cells—Panasonic and TokyoGas “have
jointly developed a new model of their ‘Ene-Farm’ home fuel cell,” according
to a release issued before the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear catastrophe.
The Ene-Farm was set to go on sale last Friday.
JinkoSolar + Innovalight—JinkoSolar Holding
of China, which says it is “a fast-growing vertically integrated solar product
manufacturer with low-cost operations,” has signed a deal with privately owned
Innovalight. JinkoSolar will now buy silicon ink from Innovalight and license
that company’s processing technology “to produce solar cells with higher conversion
efficiencies.”
Legrand/Middle East—a Dec. 15, 2010 item in
Islamic Finance News (datelined Dubai) said that “Indoasian from the
Legrand group…has finalized an agreement with Al Ghandi Electronics…paving the
way for bringing high quality value-for-money low-voltage electrical expertise
to the Middle East.”
Littelfuse/China Fair—Littelfuse said (two days
before Christmas) that it had won the 2010 Leading Electronic Component Manufacturer
Award (circuit protection category) at the China Electronics Fair. It’s two
years in a row for Littelfuse.
P2/Sudan—Precision-Paragon (unit, Hubbell),
of Yorba Linda, Calif., said in early February that it planned to donate energy-efficient
light fixtures and more “to assist the construction of a solar-powered primary
school in southern Sudan.”
Saudi Arabia—according to Islamic Finance
News (Feb. 24), this Kingdom plans to increase electrical power generating
capacity by 49% between now and 2019.
Siemens India—this unit of the big German company
“said it plans to significantly increase revenues…from the current level of
about [$142 million] to [$1.4 billion] by 2020,” according to a Dec. 31, 2010,
Financial Express item.
South Africa—according to an item on www.esi-africa.com, ACTOM
“is the largest manufacturer and distributor of electrical equipment in South
Africa,” with 6,000 employees and annual sales of about $735 million.
Success Transformer of Malaysia—revenue rose
26.9% here in 2010, according to Bernama (the Malaysian national news agency).
Why? Success “attributed the improved performance to better sales contributions”
from lighting and transformer operations.
What’s next? Success “plans to set up more
distribution outlets in Singapore, United States, and Europe.” Success’s annual
sales, if we’ve done the math on currency translation correctly, come to about
$22 million.
Sweden bans dimmer sales—from Nerikes Allehanda
(March 29), an item tedmag.com found in English: “The Swedish National Electrical
Safety Board (Elsakerhetsverket) has banned Swedish electricity equipment wholesaler
Malmberghs Elektriska to sell its dimmer ‘Praktikern.’ The company has also
recalled the already sold units.
“The Safety Board has tested the product and claims
that it does not meet [safety standards].”
Taiwan solar—Inventec Group will invest roughly
$500 million over the next few years to set up a solar PV installation capable
of generated 1.2GW/year. The first phase (300MW/year) is to be completed by
next month, according to Taiwan Economic News, at a cost of roughly $100
million.
Teco Group of Taiwan/India—Teco Group is thinking
about producing “industrial electrical parts” in India to supply domestic needs
there, according to http://money.oneindia.in.
Zimbabwe/counterfeits—as if this country does
not have enough troubles (Robert Mugabe absolutely refuses to drop dead),
a Feb. 9 news item on www.newsday.co.zw noted that “Aspire Electrical Devices, a producer of electrical products,
is facing viability problems as a result of an influx in cheap counterfeit products
that have flooded the market.”
Patience Muzadzi, corporate administrator for
Aspire, told the news source that counterfeits were introduced into the country
in 1999.
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