Alstom jumped into the tidal game this week when it teamed up with Clean Current Power Systems, and Verdant Power said earlier this month that it has moved closer to expanding its New York project. And developers of the Bay of Fundy site in Canada, which will include a turbine from Clean Current, are busy setting the stage for the first turbine to go in the water this fall.

Vancouver, British Columbia-based Clean Current now has a big-name partner in its corner, which could give it a leg up over the competition. France’s Alstom, a major railroad and power infrastructure company is getting an exclusive worldwide license to Clean Current’s technology for ocean power applications, and plans to commercialize its first tidal power products by 2012. Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but Alstom is not taking an equity stake in Clean Current as part of the deal.

For New York’s Verdant Power, which has already been knocked around by the rough waters in the Big Apple, it may be trying to prove that if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. The company installed six turbines in the East River in 2006 generating 175 kilowatts of power, but wants to bump that up to an array of 30 turbines. The company said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission concluded the pre-filing process for the expansion, and that the next step is for Verdant to submit its final license application.

The power output on that project would still be relatively low, generating about 1 MW of electricity, but Verdant is planning on building a larger project nearby that would generate 2-4 MW. Verdant is also working on a demonstration project up north, in the St. Lawrence River near Cornwall, Ontario, which the company said could eventually produce up to 15 MW of power.

Further east, in Nova Scotia, the Bay of Fundy project, backed by the provincial government and EnCana, is filing an environmental report this week. The project will have three grid-connected turbines producing a total of about 4 MW. In addition to Clean Current, Ireland’s OpenHydro, and the UK’s Marine Current Turbines will be plugging into the test site.

Ocean power is likely to face some more bumps on the road to commercialization — the more projects that are in the water, the more chances there will be for kinks to show up in the technology — but if this pace continues, there could be plenty of momentum to keep things going forward.

Photo of a turbine being installed at Race Rocks in British Columbia courtesy of Clean Current.

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UltraCell’s fuel cells aren’t commercially available yet, according to a company spokeswoman, but it’s aiming to produce hundreds of fuel cells a month by the end of this year. She said the Dalton, Ohio, plant will have the capacity to churn out several thousand fuel cells per month.

The funding was led by UltraCell’s existing investors, including BASF Venture Capital, OnPoint Technologies, Espirito Santo Ventures and the Miami Valley Venture Fund. Based on technology developed at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the fuel cell maker has raised a total of $30 million since getting its start in 2002.

The company’s latest fuel cell — which is roughly the size of a hardcover book — generates 55 watts of electricity and can run for five hours on a small fuel cartridge, or up to two weeks when attached to a larger fuel tank. UltraCell is focused on powering ruggedized laptops and radios and other things for the military market, as well as backup generators for emergency response operations.

Competitor SFC Smart Fuel Cell, which is also targeting military applications, uses direct methanol fuel cell, or DMFC, technology, but UltraCell has developed a reformed methanol fuel cell. Both systems convert methanol to electricity, but with the direct methanol approach the methanol is sent directly to the fuel cell. A reformed methanol system first converts, or reforms, the methanol into hydrogen and carbon dioxide, then feeds the hydrogen and CO2 into the fuel cell stack to produce electricity. It sounds more complicated that the direct approach, but UltraCell claims on its web site that it’s smaller and more efficient than direct methanol fuel cells.

There are some potential downsides to breaking with the competition — reformed methanol systems operate at higher temperatures and can require more gear for heat management and insulation than other types of fuel cells. But UltraCell has some supporters, especially in military circles. The company says the U.S. Army and the UK’s Ministry of Defense are both testing UltraCell’s technology to cut the number of batteries that soldiers need to lug around to power things such as nightvision scopes and military robots.

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Although nuclear power produces radioactive waste, it doesn’t release greenhouse gases and it has vocal supporters in the new administration, including Energy Secretary Steven Chu. So it’s not so far-fetched for investors to see the potential of Hyperion’s nuclear option.

But the valuation is really high for a risky, unproven technology that is a good five years from putting the first device in the ground. While the technology itself was developed at government lab Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the biggest hurdle could be regulatory. A spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told the Post that the certification and approval process of the device itself will take “several years.” When Hyperion pitched a group of investors last October at a conference, by far the most questions were about how the devices would “pass regulatory hurdles.” And the question of finding a regulated, appropriate location to store the waste could be another stumbling block.

Despite the hurdles, Hyperion has some lofty goals for its nuclear-in-a-box modules. It’s aiming to build several factories around the world to produce a first batch of 4,000 units. The transportable nuclear modules, each with a price tag of about $25 million, are expected to pump out 70 megawatts of heat and 25 MW of electricity via a steam turbine, targeting off-the-grid applications and developing countries where there isn’t a dependable electric grid.

The company signed up its first customer last August, Romania’s TES Group, which signed a letter of intent to buy six nuclear modules. And Hyperion said if TES likes what it sees, it could be in the market for another 50 of the tiny nuclear generators.

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The company says its ChargeBar will work with standard plugs (both 110 volt and 220 volt) for electric and plug-in hybrid cars, but unlike Better Place or Coulomb Technologies, GreelightAC isn’t building its technology around a subscription-based service. And it’s not going for the curbside market, either. GreenlightAC is focusing on garages for both office and residential buildings — installation sites that Mark Duvall of the Electric Power Research Institute and Bob Hayden, clean transportation adviser for the City of San Francisco have said will be easier and cheaper than curbside stations. GreenlightAC says it handles the installation and maintenance of the chargers, while the building owner pays for the electricity — about $1 for an 8-hour charge, according to the company’s web site.

The idea is to have building owners offer the electric vehicle-charging service as a complementary amenity for the building, and GreenlightAC plans to sell the systems to commercial building owners, parking garage managers, museums, sports facilities, homeowners and government customers. The company said future versions of the ChargeBar will allow building owners to tack fees onto the service.

GreenlightAC hasn’t said exactly where the first ChargeBars will show up, but they’ll start to be installed in the Washington metro area in the third quarter of this year, with future installations potentially expanding to other parts of the Mid-Atlantic region. The company told the Washington Business Journal that it expects to sell 350 of its charging stations by the end of next year.

With a growing number of electric vehicle-charging players out there, competition will be fierce. And there’s at least one rival that’s already made a deal in GreenlightAC’s own backyard — AeroVironment said earlier this month that it formed a partnership with the local government and Nissan North America on a car-charging network for Washington, D.C.

Image of ChargeBar courtesy of GreenlightAC.

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Yellow&Blue Investment Management led the round for P21 — which was formed through a management buyout from Vodafone — joining existing investors Target Partners and Conduit Ventures. And P21 already has at least one deal under its belt, setting up seven hydrogen-powered fuel cell systems for cell phone carrier O2 in Germany last year.

Most phone companies depend on batteries and diesel-powered generators as sources of backup power for their towers, as well as for primary power in spots that are off the grid, but fuel cells could offer more power than the battery and diesel options, as well as zero emissions when compared to the diesel generator.

Fuel cells’ relative light weight and low maintenance — the result of having so few moving parts — could also render them more attractive. That could be a major factor in urban locations, where phone companies put a lot of cell towers on top of schools, apartments, and other buildings, and well as remote rural locations that are hard to get to.

Some big-name phone companies in the U.S. are also giving fuel cells a try. Last month, Sprint Nextel picked up $7.3 million from the Department of Energy to test out new fuel cell systems as backup power for its wireless infrastructure. Sprint already has some fuel cells at some of its towers, but they only provide 15 hours of back-up power, and the company is hoping to boost that up to 72 hours with the DOE funding.

That cash was part of a larger $41.9 million in financing that the DOE handed out for fuel cell technology last month, with most of the money going toward telecom applications, including $8.6 million for fuel cell-maker ReliOn to work on a back-up power system for AT&T.

But while there’s big potential in the telecom market for fuel cell startups, there’s also established players that will offer competition. That includes Plug Power, which has made some moves in the telecom market, and Ballard Power Systems, which has a deal to supply its fuel cells to Acme for telecom applications India.

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The report shows a 10 percent drop from last year in the expected use of facility capital budgets for energy efficiency projects; spending from overall operating budgets is expected to drop by 6 percent this year. It’s based on a survey of more than 1,400 executives — mostly in the U.S, but some in Canada as well — who are responsible for energy efficiency at their respective businesses.

Some energy efficiency startups are flush with cash— Powerit Solutions said yesterday that it picked up $6 million in new funding— but others could be facing a long drought. Business leaders that were surveyed expressed belief that a turnaround could hinge on more incentives and legislation from the government, and most of those leaders said it could take up to two years for mandates on energy efficiency or carbon reduction to become a reality.

With those mandates in place, and once the economy picks up, things could really start moving. “There’s a lot of pent-up demand, and I think we’re going to see continued investment, because, in many cases, there are paybacks that can occur in a very short period of time,” Don Young, with the International Facility Management Association, said in a webcast today.

Nearly half of the executives surveyed expect a payback period of less than three years, which could give lighting companies such as Luxim a leg up on the energy efficiency competition. Last month, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Luxim said it raised $12 million in a Series C round of financing for its solid-state plasma lighting. Energy-efficient lighting is one of the easiest switches for building owners to make and tops the list of energy improvements in the survey that have already been implemented, so it’ll probably continue to lead the way in new investments, once those new investments actually start rolling in.

And those surveyed executives could be wrong. With big companies such as Google making a push on Capitol Hill for energy efficiency, along with its own technology, the expected drought in investment could end sooner rather than later. “I think we’ll see substantial change next year,” said David Myers, who heads up the building efficiency division at Johnson Controls. “I think we’ll see clarity in legislative changes coming up.”

The government also has more to offer than just legislation — it plans to be a customer. Late last year, President Obama said he wants to see energy efficiency upgrades for federal and public school buildings, which could mean a windfall of contracts for up-and-coming technologies.

But what about the recession? “I’ll be an optimist here,” said Myers. “There will be a better economic environment one year from now than we’re facing today.”

Chart courtesy of Johson Controls.

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The cash was announced by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar as part of a larger $305 million initiative at the bureau to restore public lands and watersheds. The initiative also includes funding for energy efficiency improvements at the bureau’s facilities, as well as some small-scale solar projects in Nevada, which are not part of the application backlog.

The backlog includes applications for 199 solar and 241 wind projects, Interior Department spokesman Frank Quimby told us. He said there are 65 projects in solar and wind that are far enough along in the development process that they can directly benefit from a speedier application process. Moving those projects along will certainly bring everyone else closer to the head of the line, although Quimby points out that not every application will be approved.

Last June, the bureau was so overwhelmed with applications for solar power plants, it decided to put a freeze on new applications. But after an outcry from the solar industry, just a few days later the bureau changed its mind, opening its doors again and letting the line grow even longer.

Solar thermal startup BrightSource is one of the companies hoping to build a project on public lands, but the company needs approval from both the Bureau of Land Management as well as the California Energy Commission. Last year, BrightSource said it was trying to get the two agencies to review renewable projects in parallel, to streamline the permitting process.

But getting a permit isn’t the only hurdle for renewable projects on public land. When BrightSource originally announced its 900 MW project last April, it said securing transmission lines will be the biggest factor. The Bureau of Land Management bureau must be listening — it said this weekend that it plans to use some of that $41 million for regional planning and siting for future transmission, as well as for future renewable development. The bureau is working on so-called “Renewable Energy Zones” that will group together land for renewable energy use, and Quimby said this latest funding will help the bureau site where transmission corridors for those zones will go.

Photo of Ken Salazar courtesy of the Department of the Interior.

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But will all that money be enough? Like most businesses these days, Clipper and other wind power companies have been hit by the down economy. Slumping demand has prompted layoffs at even the biggest players in the industry. Earlier this year, Clipper said it expected a 15-20 percent drop in turbine production vs. 2008 and laid off about 90 workers — 11 percent of its workforce.

Large, established wind firms producing high volume won’t find much help in that $93 million in stimulus cash directly for the wind industry (not the tax credits). It will mostly be used for research and development and testing of new technology.

But both the loan guarantees and the tax credits could offer significant aid. Earlier this month, GE Energy, one of the top dogs in the wind turbine industry, said that an Illinois wind project built by Invenergy and using GE turbines could be one of the first wind farms in the U.S. to get help from the stimulus act, through the production tax credits. And loan guarantees like the $300 million that Clipper is requesting could be a lifesaver. A DOE spokeswoman said the department is still reviewing its loan applications, so we don’t know how many other wind companies are also vying for some stimulus cash.

Photo of Clipper Windpower’s factory courtesy of Clipper.

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Wave Hub is meant to be a shortcut for developers to connect to the grid. Companies that have signed on for the project are hoping to more easily prove the commercial viability of wave technology and eliminate the time and cost of applying for grid connections individually. It’s due to go in the water about 10 miles off the Cornwall coast in southwest England next year, with the first wave power devices to hook into the Hub in 2011.

While E.ON’s move is unlikely to leave Wave Hub dead in the water, it’s not the only company to renege on its commitment. Australian wave power developer OceanLinx pulled out of Wave Hub earlier this year after getting a grant from the Australian government and deciding to put its devices in the water Down Under instead.

Given how nascent wave technology is, their uncertainty is understandable. Power companies are still weighing over how much R&D time and investment they want to spend on wave power. Pelamis (the company that E.ON bought its wave device from) had to pull its wave power generators out of the water off the coast of Portugal due to technical and financial difficulties. According to data from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy office, there are only 21 ocean power projects around the world that have devices operating in the ocean, grid-connected or not.

The Wave Hub project originally had 16 companies express interest in it, so it’s far from dead in the water. After OceanLinx dropped out, the Wave Hub added on Cornwall, England’s Orecon to the lineup.

Image of the Wave Hub courtesy of the UK’s Industrial Art Studio.

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The company has created software that looks over a 22-year archive of satellite images from NASA that measure wind strength based on the size of small ripples on the surface of the ocean’s waters. Atmos has already pinpointed the southern part of the North Sea as a site ripe for offshore wind farms, as the site has been getting windier since 1997. If the trend continues, says Atmos, in another decade wind farms planned for the area could have double the power generation of those located further north.

More accurate wind forecasting could be just what the struggling UK offshore wind industry needs. The 1-gigawatt London Array project is set to be located in the Thames Estuary, the area off the southeast coast where the River Thames meets the North Sea. If the winds are getting stronger there, it would make the London Array a much better financial bet for its investors, who seem to be getting cold feet in these tough economic times.

In the U.S., better wind information could go a long way toward convincing investors and legislators to support offshore wind. And Atmos isn’t the only game in the wind-mapping business — companies such as 3Tier are also giving a helping hand to wind and other renewables producers when it comes to picking the best spots for their projects. If wind power developers can show that an offshore wind project will be able to generate more energy as time goes on because the location will get stronger gusts, the resistance to the higher price tag could drop (although Sen. Ted Kennedy still might not like the way it looks).

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