The rumor has become reality: BrightSource Energy, which is heavily backed by private and public money for its concentrating solar thermal technology, on Friday filed for an initial public offering to raise $250 million. Read more »
Solaria corralled political dignitaries such as California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom to show off a new headquarters and adjacent demonstration array of its solar panels in Fremont Friday. The occasion marks a milestone for a company that took a while to engineer a product that could attract customers. Read more »
Has Solaria finally hit its stride? The company is now on a path to expand production, and later this morning, it’s scheduled to celebrate the new dig with big-name guests such as California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Sierra Club’s executive director Mike Brune. Read more »
Does a solar electric system add to the sales value of a home? The Berkeley Lawrence National Laboratory decided to answer this question, and the result is a report being issued Thursday that showed that, indeed, solar homes command higher prices. Read more »
The federal government, which is one of the biggest boosters of electric cars, announced two initiatives on Tuesday: a Google Map project featuring charging stations nationwide, and $5 million in funding for cities to come up with plans to popularize electric cars. Read more »
It’s a double-whopper: The federal government is offering the largest loan guarantee commitment yet to what will be the world’s largest proposed solar farm. Blythe Solar is set to get $2.1 billion in loan guarantees to build part of a 1,000MW plant in California. Read more »
Solar cell developer Suniva , which recently decided to suspend effort to secure a federal loan guarantee for a new factory, has raised about $94.4 million in equity out of a $115 million goal, according to its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Read more »
Will your local utility one day go the way of dinosaurs? As more home and business owners install solar panels, wind turbines and other electricity and heat generating equipment, the roles of the utilities will change and new business opportunities will rise. Read more »
It’s a cliché you inevitably hear in any discussion about building energy efficiency retrofits: It’s the “low-hanging fruit” of cleantech. But the market hasn’t taken off quickly, and good money to be made will come from the commercial, rather than the residential, market. Read more »
Cleantech is losing its mojo to upstarts peddling coupons. These days, it’s not hard to find tech companies, investors and market analysts comparing cleantech to Groupon, which generated a lot of buzz when it turned down a reportedly $5-6 billion offer from Google late last year. Read more »
Are we underestimating the electric car market? A bullish outlook from Morgan Stanley and President Obama’s energy speech apparently have raised that question, even though neither has made a good case for the answer to be “yes.” Read more »
The popular California Solar Initiative (CSI) program has been so popular that it’s set to run out of money sooner than expected. What will happen if the state doesn’t authorize more money for the program? Consumers will lose some important protection from unscrupulous solar service providers. Read more »
California has led the country in solar policy and solar rooftop installations, but keeping its lead won’t be easy. The president of California Public Utilities Commission, Michael Peevey, laid out some of the challenges to promote renewable energy generation by homes, businesses, schools and government agencies. Read more »
Renewable energy is enjoying a rising profile at the expense of nuclear power. But nuclear power producers and technology developers aren’t necessary the losers there. Some of them have been snapping up solar and wind companies and power plant projects, and the trend will continue. Read more »
Solar equipment installers and manufacturers have pointed out for some time now the hassles of dealing with disparate permitting rules and costs from one city or county to the next. A new report highlights this challenge in Colorado, where a bill is pending to cap fees. Read more »
Enphase Energy has made a name for itself as a trailblazer of the microinverter market. But keeping that lead won’t be easy, and the company is launching a series of new products that are smaller and lighter and more tailored for different customer types. Read more »
General Electric has shown no lack of ambition to be a big player in the solar energy market, but how well it’s doing developing cadmium-telluride (CdTe)-based technology — and become a major CdTe solar panel makers — remains a bit of a mystery Read more »
Entrepreneurs and investors have long believed water tech represents the next big market. ET Water Systems hopes to ride this wave and announced Monday that it had raised $2 million for a new irrigation control and management technology. Read more »
Solar water heater market may not be brand new, but it’s attracting a lot of new comers in recent years as more state and local incentives crop up. Sunnovations, which launched its first water heating system last year has raised an A round funding. Read more »
Recycling is a tried-and-true form of energy efficiency, so it’s no surprise greentech investors such as Al Gore would find the concept appealing. For Harvest Power, that means a $51.7 million round to build facilities to turn organic waste into fertilizer and energy. Read more »
BrightSource Energy has upped its latest fundraising goal from $100 million last December to $125 million and plans to use the money for both the U.S. projects and international expansion, the company’s spokesman, Keely Wachs, told us Tuesday. Read more »
Japan’s massive earthquake, tsunami, and now nuclear disaster, is starting to shine a spotlight on just how important the country is in terms of clean energy technology, from solar to electric cars. Read more »
Smart meter companies take note: the battle over smart meters in California isn’t going away, will likely get more complicated, and could impact tech companies banking on the rollout of a massive amount of smart meters connected to wireless networks. Read more »
Can solar concentrating photovoltaic technology ever become mainstream? There’s a new project that shows it can: Tenaska Solar Ventures will build a 150 MW of CPV systems that will produce electricity for San Diego Gas & Electric. The largest CPV installation to date is 1 MW. Read more »
Developers of copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) solar panels may be finally making that leap to mass production, but they have a lot of catching up to do to be competitive. An NREL expert and Morgan Stanley analyst outlines some of the technical and market challenges. Read more »
A few years ago, solar-loving venture capitalists were excited to talk about solar cell and panel makers with novel manufacturing processes that could make them industry giants. Today, they want to talk about software, services and materials that don’t require hefty capital investments. Read more »
Morgan Solar, a concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) startup, is raising a B round of $20-25 million and hopes to complete the fundraising by as early as April, Nicolas Morgan, vice president of business development at the company, told us. Read more »
Less than a month after announcing a joint development agreement with Waste Management, green chemistry developer Genomatica announced Tuesday that it has raised $45 million from the trash king and other investors. Read more »
Will solar panels generate buzz like a Tesla Roadster or boredom like an efficient water heater? Solar service providers are hoping for a Tesla response, and are increasingly turning to social media tactics in an attempt to create engaged communities around the sunny clean power. Read more »
California lawmakers have passed a bill to require all public and private utilities to get 33 percent of their electricity supplies from renewable sources by 2020. If becomes law, the legislation would make the state home to the toughest renewable energy mandate in the country. Read more »
Hunting for new markets has become a bigger priority for First Solar, whose executives sounded a cautious note about the market outlook on Thursday and reported declining sales and net income for the fourth quarter. Read more »
Geothermal energy has long been touted as a good alternative to fossil fuel-based power plants because it’s able to generate power around the clock. A project in Oregon is underway, and the DOE has finalized a $96.8 million loan guarantee for U.S. Geothermal. Read more »
An invention that can run data centers more efficiently and cut electric use is no doubt dear to Google’s heart. So it’s not surprising that Google Ventures became a lead investor in a startup called Transphorm, which made its public debut Wednesday. Read more »
Solar companies have seen their stocks riding high so far this year. But that ride wont’ last forever. Here is a list of events and policies that could move the stocks in 2011. Read more »
Californians may see a big jump in their energy bills due to the fact that the state utilities’ clean power projects under contract will be billions of dollars more expensive than what the utilities would otherwise pay for power from natural gas plants. Read more »
Solar company Solyndra, which has been on a roller coaster ride of funding and political attention over the past two years, is now slowly ramping up production at its new factory. Will it survive, meet expectations and one day turn into a solar powerhouse? Read more »
While many Silicon Valley thin-film solar companies have finally moved into commercial production, here comes Solar Frontier, a division of Japanese oil refiner Showa Shell, who has leapt over everyone to open a near-gigawatt factory and has drawn customers such as GE. Read more »
Less than two months after Tessera Solar announced the sale of its crown-jewel solar project, it has sold another big project, a 709-MW development, to AES Solar. The sale underscores the difficulties of developing a mega solar project in California’s desert. Read more »
The U.S. Department of Energy said Tuesday it has finalized a $343 million loan guarantee for building One Nevada Transmission, which will provide highway-to-ferry electricity, including renewables, between the northern and southern Nevada. Read more »
Tinted windows on demand could be a promising way to cut energy, but the technology isn’t common. Soladigm hopes to change that and has just lined up an additional $10 million in equity financing to bring a C round to a total $40 million. Read more »
