Hypo Venture Capital Zurich Headlines: Solar Power Market by PV, CSP Technologies by Installations, Price, Cost, Trade Trends & Global Forecasts (2011 – 2016)

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Solar energy is amongst the most reliable and clean energy resources, and proves to be a viable alternative to fossil fuels that are currently responsible for polluting the environment and contributing to global warming. Solar energy is generated through various technologies viz. solar PV, solar thermal, concentrated solar thermal/power, and concentrated PV.

In all the four technologies mentioned above, solar PV is the biggest market; followed by concentrated solar thermal (CSP/CST). In the last five years, solar PV registered 60% average annual growth rate and CSP achieved 8%. Currently, the market for solar PV is bigger than CSP; thanks to huge investment, research and development, initiatives taken by the governments, and a number of projects in the pipeline. However, CSP technologies are expected to grow at a faster rate in future as new markets such as China, India, Brazil,Canada, Germany, and France open up. During 2011 – 2016, the CSP market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 44.9% and the solar PV market by 29.9%. At the end of 2016, cumulative installed capacity of CSP and solar PV is expected to be 8.6 GW and 219 GW respectively.

Hypo Venture Capital Zurich Headlines: Zurich Financial signs agreement with Santander in Latin America

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Switzerland-based insurer Zurich Financial Services Group has signed definitive agreements with Banco Santander to buy a majority interest in the bank’s Latin America insurance operations.

The insurer says the agreement is materially unchanged from what was announced on 22 February of this year.

Earlier, Zurich signed a 25-year strategic distribution agreement with Banco Santander where it would acquire 51% of the bank’s insurance business in Latin America and Santander would keep the remaining 49%.

Zurich will pay $1.67bn for its 51% participation in the insurance operations including the respective distribution agreements.

The alliance with Santander provides Zurich with access to over 5,600 bank branches and an additional 36 million customers in the region.

The two parties expect to close the transaction before the end of this year, subject to the receipt of regulatory approvals.

Hypo Venture Capital Zurich Headlines: Apple, Nokia show continued interest in InterDigital patents

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Following Google’s purchase of Motorola, a new report claims that Apple is still interested in acquiring InterDigital, as are Nokia, Qualcomm and others in the wireless industry.

Citing sources familiar with the situation, Reuters reported Wednesday that “several companies” are “pondering bids” for wireless telecom specialist InterDigital Inc. The forthcoming auction of the company will be postponed from next week until sometime after Labor Day.

More time is necessary because potential bidders have reportedly asked for more times to analyze the company’s patents. Companies in the wireless industry are interested in securing those inventions as patent infringement lawsuits involving all of the major industry players continue to mount.

Sources also reportedly said it’s unknown whether Google will remain in pursuit of the InterDigital patents. The search giant was previously named as a potential bidder, but the announcement that it will buy Motorola for $12.5 billion may have changed those plans.

Apple was first named as a likely bidder on InterDigital in July. The company has 1,300 patents related to wireless device technologies that would be of prime interest to any smartphone maker.

The industry-wide desire for patents was predicted to drive up the price of InterDigital by as much as 50 percent. But shares of the company dropped on Monday following the news that Google will buy Motorola, as investors are now less certain that Google will make a play for the InterDigital portfolio.

Hypo Venture Capital Zurich Headlines:Obama sees China as a partner in Mars mission

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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama views China as a potential partner for an eventual human mission to Mars that would be difficult for any single nation to undertake, a senior White House official told lawmakers.Testifying May 4 before the House Appropriations subcommittee on commerce, justice and science, White House science adviser John Holdren said near-term engagement with China in civil space will help lay the groundwork for any such future endeavor. He prefaced his remarks with the assertion that human exploration of Mars is a long-term proposition and that any discussion of cooperating with Beijing on such an effort is speculative.

“(What) the president has deemed worth discussing with the Chinese and others is that when the time comes for humans to visit Mars, it’s going to be an extremely expensive proposition and the question is whether it will really make sense — at the time that we’re ready to do that — to do it as one nation rather than to do it in concert,” Holdren said in response to a question from Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., a staunch China critic who chairs the powerful subcommittee that oversees NASA spending.

Holdren, who said NASA could also benefit from cooperating with China on detection and tracking of orbital debris, stressed that any U.S. collaboration with Beijing in manned spaceflight would depend on future Sino-U.S. relations.

“But many of us, including the president, including myself, including (NASA Administrator Charles) Bolden, believe that it’s not too soon to have preliminary conversations about what involving China in that sort of cooperation might entail,” Holdren said. “If China is going to be, by 2030, the biggest economy in the world … it could certainly be to our benefit to share the costs of such an expensive venture with them and with others.”

Wolf, who characterizes China’s government as “fundamentally evil,” said it is outrageous that the Obama administration would have close ties with Beijing’s space program, which is believed to be run primarily by the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA.