Marrying ecommerce with solar isn’t a new idea, but in Japan, the nuclear disaster in March this year has inspired one Internet giant to not only start selling solar panels online but also offering financial options. Read more »
First Solar posts a huge slide in earnings Tuesday but promises to do better for the remainder of the year. The solar panel maker and project developer is counting on India and North America to become its main markets. Read more »
Adding energy storage is becoming vogue for concentrating solar thermal power projects, particularly when it’s facing intense pressure to reduce costs. BrightSource Energy said Wednesday it, too, will offer an energy storage option to its power plant design. Read more »
Lithium-ion battery startup Leyden Energy has raised $20 million to expand production, the company announced Wednesday. Although the company is initially targeting the gadget market, it’s also working with a Canadian company to develop batteries for electric bicycles. Read more »
Going solar is an expensive undertaking, so homeowners are often eager to know whether solar adds value to their homes and if they can recoup some of the investment when they sell their homes. Read more »
We stopped by one of the first Chevy dealers in the country, American Chevrolet of Modesto, Calif., that has installed a solar canopy and Volt charging stations. Check out the photos and what we’ve learned about the project. Read more »
Startup EnFocus Engineering’s technology replaces an ordinary skylight with a high-tech version that features solar cells and optics to manage the light that flows into a room. The company will be installing a prototype system at Google. Read more »
The California Energy Commission on Wednesday filed a complaint against a wind turbine maker, contending that the company has exaggerated the performance of its equipment and caused the commission to overpay in rebates. Read more »
Telecom companies have known for some time that their industry’s carbon footprint will grown and that presents an opportunity. Verizon announced on Wednesday it will turn to a national lab for help to come up with marketable energy saving technologies. Read more »
Solar-panel prices are falling fast, and that is putting enormous pressure on manufacturers to boost their solar gear’s efficiency. First Solar feels the pressure, too, and on Tuesday boasted a world-record solar cell at 17.3 percent efficiency. Read more »
Brace yourself for reports of lackluster sales and profits for solar companies for the second quarter. SunPower did just that Monday by warning that it expects to post a lower gross margin and a loss for the period. Read more »
DuPont announced on Monday that it has bought Innovalight, a Silicon Valley startup that makes silicon ink that solar-cell makers can use to improve the amount of electricity that the cells can squeeze out of sunlight. DuPont declined to disclose the purchase price. Read more »
There is a growing interest to bring solar generation closer to where the power is used and accessible to the masses, and the idea of so-called “solar community garden” may be the next idea to catch on. Read more »
The race for more clean power has intensified in California, and utilities such as PG&E and San Diego Gas & Electric have been busy inking contracts to meet what is the toughest standard in the country. Read more »
Boulder plans to ask its voters to decide if it should form its own utility instead of relying on Xcel for electricity. The city says the move is for gaining more control over buying clean sources of power. Read more »
Utilities know by now that they need to adopt steps manage electricity supply and demand if electric cars become popular. The trick is to figure out what to do. The Electric Power Research Institute released a report on Tuesday that addresses the utility concerns. Read more »
Biofuel companies may not get as much venture capital investments, but they sure are attracting a good number of investors in the public markets. Renewable Energy Group is turning to the public market route and on Monday said it will go public to raise up to $100 million. Read more »
California regulators have approved a program, called virtual net metering, for residents who until now have been underserved by the state’s popular solar incentive program. Read more »
Fusing solar technology with buildings is an area that tends to invite creative ideas. An intriguing design caught our attention at Intersolar in San Francisco this week: It’s a solar panel with a honeycomb structure that replaces the glass facades of a building. Read more »
Greener transportation doesn’t just involve electric vehicles and biofuels. Lighter weight steel can make a car more fuel efficient, too. That’s the idea behind the Wednesday announcement by the federal government to offer a $730 million loan to a steel maker Severstal in Michigan. Read more »
Germany has sprinted ahead of the U.S. when it comes to embracing clean energy and becoming the world’s largest solar market. That means Germany has learned some lessons that the U.S. could benefit from, including ways to drive down the cost of solar electricity fast. Read more »
Here are our five topics to watch for at one of the largest U.S. solar conferences, Intersolar, in San Francisco this week. Policy — how to survive with more mandates and less money — along with new technology and markets will dominate the discussions. Read more »
When it comes to adopting new technologies, particularly solar, farmers and owners of ag-related operations have often led the way. We list some recent projects that rely on agricultural producers to demonstrate new technologies. Read more »
Poet’s so-called “Project Liberty” biofuel plant, which will use corn waste instead of edible corn, is getting some support from the U.S. government. On Thursday, the Department of Energy announced it will offer Poet a $105 million loan guarantee to build out Project Liberty in Iowa. Read more »
Cleantech venture investments dropped by a third in the second quarter of this year compared to the same quarter last year, according to the Cleantech Group. However, energy efficiency technologies such as LED lighting and energy management software are still getting some love from private investors. Read more »
Japanese scientists have pinpointed large deposits of rare earth elements that are necessary for all sorts of cleantech gear. The discovery gives hopes that China’s chokehold on the rare earth supply could be over, but accessing those minerals will be difficult. Read more »
SolarCity, which has lined up investors such as Google to finance solar panel installations, is looking for money to run its business operations. The installer is seeking a $42 million round and has bagged about $14.8 million, according to its government filing Friday. Read more »
First Solar has become the biggest solar beneficiary of a federal renewable energy loan guarantee program. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Energy announced three loan guarantee offerings totaling roughly $3.73 billion for First Solar’s three photovoltaic power plants in California. Read more »
SoloPower, which has gotten a federal loan guarantee offer to build a solar panel factory in Oregon, is now aiming for a close to $44 million equity round and has so far lined up about $15 million, according to a filing Wednesday. Read more »
Turning wastewater – from cities or food processing plants – into electricity has always attracted investors fancy. Now an investor consortium of GE, NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips is making its first bet on an Israeli technology developer via its new fund called Energy Technology Ventures, the companies said Tuesday. Read more »
Startup EnerVault is getting closer to commercializing its flow battery, which uses large liquid tanks of chemicals to store energy. The Silicon Valley company will be building a demonstration project next year to help launch the technology into the market in 2013. Read more »
Federal lawmakers held a hearing Friday to examine a federal agency’s role in approving renewable energy loan guarantees, particularly the $535 guarantee that went to solar panel maker Solyndra. Read more »
The DOE on Wednesday said it is offering a partial loan guarantee for a $1.4 billion loan that will fund Project Amp, which will erect solar panels on hundreds of rooftops around the country. The project is the largest rooftop solar plan in the country. Read more »
Cleantech investing may not have produced many big exits and returns so far, yet it keeps attracting investors who believe they can do better. Here comes the Cleantech Syndicate, a group of 11 families that plan to invest $1.4 billion over the next five years. Read more »
After a week of announcing five loan guarantees for solar projects, the Department of Energy is turning the spotlight on wind energy, on Tuesday, announcing the backing of a $135.76 million loan for a wind farm in New Hampshire. Read more »
Alta Devices has garnered high-profile investors, but it’s been fairly quiet about the tech it’s developed to bring in those investors. But after chatting with Alta’s CEO, Christopher Norris, we have a lot better idea on its innovation. Here’s the story behind Alta Devices. Read more »
Here is another sign that a new class of solar inverters is cementing its hold in the market: SolarBridge Technologies announced Monday that it has raised $19 million to expand the sales and manufacturing of its microinverters. Read more »
Making energy from poop can be a good profit-making and social enterprise. That’s the aim of a research project at Columbia University, where a professor is getting a $1.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a waste-to-energy technology. Read more »
Calisolar has become the fourth solar manufacturer to receive a federal loan guarantee offer. The company, which turns lower-grade silicon into purer version for making solar cells, is set to use the $275 million loan guarantee to help build a factory in Ohio, the U.S. Department of Energy said Thursday. Read more »
Solar inverter maker Enphase Energy is taking a plunge by filing to go public. In a government filing Wednesday, the California company said it plans to raise up to $100 million. Read more »
