Can someone provide an explanation as to why this technology hasn't been further adopted by the market given it has been around for decades, with over 120m+ dollars worth of research and development. I understand that the technology has been implemented in several sites across the globe - but given the maturity of the product - the number of plants that have contracted our technology is nothing short of pitiful. Yes, there was a reformation in the business strategy which has shifted us from build-own-operate agreements, to now utilising vendors through licensing and supervision contracts. However, from my understanding, our technology is still identical to the one that has failed to secure any substantial contracts (except little 3MW / 4MW plants here and there).
On a separate note in regards to technology, I think that we need to refrain from stating "40% increased efficiency" in comparison to ORMAT, a technology that yields 600M+ worth of revenue on an annual basis. ORMAT is playing on a different field - hence it is unfair to compare the two technologies as they are optimised for different temperatures. However, if we are to assume this 40% superiority over competitors, then we need to ask questions as to why it has taken 30 years, 3 company restructurings and 120,000,000 AUD to sell <100MW worth of plants. Yes, we can blame the lack of business acumen by previous management (albeit our executive chairman is still here), but I believe that a technology with over 40% increased efficiency over its competitors should to an extent sell itself, as we have seen in SMN where their clients are actually driving the deals, not vice-versa.
To summarise my concerns - what evidence do we have that companies today will adopt our technology, despite the overwhelming fact that this technology has been available to the market for YEARS. Sinopec in itself presents an awesome opportunity. Yet, there is a possibility that 0 out of the '100 potential' plants are built. From my observations, the plants we have built are usually one-off, and we never hear of another contract to build further plants. Is there anything to suggest that Sinopec will be a different story? We can all dreamily discuss potential deals in the Canadian oilfields or in mountainous onsens in Japan whilst we drool at the 2b market capitalisation of ORMAT, but when all is said and done, KPO's medium-term prospects are ****ed if Sinopec doesn't ask for more plants in China.
Cheers
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