Energy storage companies, like battery makers, and solar firms have been talking about the possible marriage of the two technologies for some time. And the union will likely be a big theme at Intersolar, one of the biggest solar energy trade shows in the U.S. Read more »
It’s a hot day and you agree not to jack up your air conditioner in exchange for a discount on your utility bill. Startups like Smart Grid Billing are developing applications to help manage this process, and the startup plans to launch a pilot next month. Read more »
GE was set to become a major solar manufacturer when it announced a 400 MW factory in Colorado last year. Over a year later, though, it’s putting that plan on hold for 18 months or more while it works on coming up with more competitive technology. Read more »
Are people who don’t own homes being left out of the solar energy revolution? A bill making its way through the Legislature in California will expand the public’s access to solar energy by making it easier for renters and others to buy electricity from clean power. Read more »
The vast majority of solar cells today generate electricity by facing the sun, but what if you could engineer their backside to make use of reflected light as well? That’s the idea underlying the technology of bSolar, an Israeli startup who recently launched the so-called bifacial solar cells. Read more »
Here is another obit of a solar startup: Abound Solar, a thin film startup which secured a $400 million federal loan guarantee to expand production, is shutting down and filing for bankruptcy, the DOE said Thursday. Read more »
Intel Labs held an annual showcase in San Francisco on Tuesday and it showed off how it’s researching ways to use data to help curb energy consumption in residential homes, in offices, on factory floors and across smart cities. Read more »
Finding a better, low-power way to send data over long distance is crucial for tracking and conserving energy. On-Ramp Wireless is tackling this challenge and now aims to raise nearly $30 million to commercialize this technology. Read more »
Thin film solar startup NovaSolar didn’t seem to have much of a chance. It grew out of the 2009 demise of another startup, OptiSolar, but it couldn’t make it a second time around. The company filed for bankruptcy in San Jose. Read more »
It was a project that took five years to fight off critics and secure regulatory permits. But now the Sunrise Powerlink — a transmission line to ferry clean power like solar and wind from California’s desert to its southern coastal region — is done and live. Read more »
Hanergy, a Chinese solar manufacturer, has been making news lately, first with the purchase of a German solar company and then on Wednesday with a 3-year deal to make and install solar panels on Ikea’s stores on China. But who is Hanergy? Read more »
The U.S. solar market is shaping up to be larger than anticipated and could end up installing nearly 3.3 GW of solar panels in 2012, a roughly 18 percent jump from the previous forecast of 2.8 GW, according to a report released Wednesday. Read more »
Funding innovation and manufacturing (and job creation) is a big theme in this election year for Obama’s administration. The DOE announced Tuesday that it’s giving away $54 million to 13 projects for technologies that will help manufacturers reduce energy use and lower production costs. Read more »
California’s per-capita energy use has remained flat for 35 years and it wants to keep that way. That’s why state regulators are now targeting gadgets such as game consoles and event toilets in an effort to set standards that will require manufactures the reduce of rate of electricity and water their products consume. Read more »
Software tools are becoming more important –and attracting more investments — with the greater use of clean power gear, from solar and wind devices to batteries for energy storage. Here’s a look at 6 software opportunities, from energy forecasts to performance monitoring to marketing and sales. Read more »
IBM has made a lot of noise about its lithium air battery, which it says can hold as much energy in a given volume as gasoline can. But General Motors isn’t all that convinced that lithium air battery technology is worth the investment. Read more »
As the planet reaches 9 billion people by 2050, technologies that reduce energy and water needs for farming will become increasingly important. A Silicon Valley startup called mOasis is working on materials that can help farmers produce more crops with less energy and water. Read more »
Konarka Technologies, a maker of organic solar thin films, said Friday it’s going bankrupt, an announcement that may not be so surprising to many who have watched and waited for the venture-backed company to try to build a viable business. Read more »
It’s got dry, sunny climate and an addiction to fossil fuels, and it’s set to become a hot spot for renewable energy development, especially solar. It’s the Middle East, where countries such as Saudi Arabia subsidize electricity generation by using their own oil and where natural gas is the main source of power for United Arab Emirates. Read more »
Can the startup accelerator model work for battery companies? The folks behind CalCharge, the brainchild of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and California Clean Energy Fund (CalCEF) that hopes to attract some 30 battery companies in the San Francisco Bay Area, think so. Read more »
California regulators on Thursday essentially increase the amount of solar power generation that could qualify for net metering, but they left unresolved a contentious issue over whether people who don’t have solar or other renewable energy systems are subsidizing those who do. Read more »
Investors may not be so keen to put money into solar manufacturing these days, but they are pumping quite a bit of money into the solar retail sector. Sunrun is benefitting from this investor sentiment and announced Wednesday that it’s raised a $60 million in equity. Read more »
After raising $230 million in venture capital and developing LED lighting components for a decade, Bridgelux in Livermore, Calif., is making a technology transition to drive down costs. The company is now counting on its partnership with Toshiba to make this transition a success. Read more »
The ability to predict energy use and do something about it will become more important as businesses look for ways to reduce costs and use energy more efficiently. A startup called GridNavigator has launched a cloud-based service that performs energy consumption forecasts throughout the day. Read more »
The federal government’s decision yesterday to slap fairly hefty tariffs on Chinese solar panels has prompted worries about a big rise in costs for consumers to go solar. But the impact will not likely be as significant for two reasons. Read more »
Gen110 started out as a solar sales and marketing company in 2009, and now it plans to add other residential energy services and has lined up Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as an investor to help its expansion, Gen110 said Thursday. Read more »
A123 Systems was supposed to be a success story about an innovative U.S. battery company, but it has struggled to live up to that expectation. The company on Tuesday posted lower revenues and greater losses for the first quarter of this year, about two months after it launched a program to replace defective batteries. Read more »
China likes to do things on a grand scale, which allows it serve its vast population spreading out in huge regions and brag about its technical advancements. Here comes another one: the country is now building a transmission line with a whopping 800-kilovolt of capacity that will ferry wind and solar power over 2,210 kilometers (1,373 miles). Read more »
Two months ago we asked whether utilities should invest in solar manufacturing because Pacific Gas & Electric was proposing to do just that. The answer from California regulators, who were divided over the issue, was “no” as they voted 3-2 to deny the request on Thursday. Read more »
Microsoft is joining a growing number of tech companies that want to do something about their growing carbon emissions due to power hungry data centers and office buildings. The software giant on Tuesday announced a plan to become carbon neutral by fiscal year 2013 (this July). Read more »
Azure Power will be building one of India’s first megawatt-scale rooftop solar projects that will put solar panels on dozens of rooftops and share revenues from power sales with building owners. Read more »
Electric car charging network owner Coulomb Technologies has lined up $47.5 million to expand its reach during a year when more new electric vehicle models are showing up. Read more »
Japan plans to close its last nuclear reactor this weekend, a move that will take nuclear power out of its energy supply for the first time since 1966. Among those who will celebrate that will be solar companies as Japan gets ready to boost its renewable energy production and opens up its market more to non-Japanese players. Read more »
Solar bellwether First Solar has two pieces of big news out of its earnings on Thursday: a new CEO with deep experience with conventional power and a new 5-year plan to transform the company into a power plant developer. Read more »
San Diego-based EcoATM wants to make for electronic recycling convenient and even rewarding (with cash!), and the idea has enabled it to raise a B round of about $17 million to expand its reach nationwide. Read more »
An 180-mile drive takes me through the farm belt of California to Coalinga, where Chevron runs an old oil field that uses steam to boost its production. It operates a demonstration project, completed last fall, that uses sun’s energy instead of natural gas to produce steam. Read more »
Solar startups have been a favorite target for Korean conglomerates looking to boost clean power investments. TenKsolar certainly has caught the attention of one of them, Hanwha, which just led a series B round of $15.5 million the companies said Wednesday. Read more »
Here is a wild idea: mining energy materials for batteries, fuel cells and other electronic devices from asteroids. Except that is exactly the plan announced by a startup on Tuesday that counts Larry Page and Eric Schmidt as investors. Read more »
India is testing out an idea that marries solar panels with irrigation canals and conserves land and water. Read more »
The car culture we live in calls for us to go to gas stations to refuel, but the car culture we will see in a few decades may involve a far more decentralized approach to filling up the tanks. Read more »
