Cleantech — Cleantech | GigaOM

Cleantech

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 … Read More »

The new resource dependence

You can’t build an iPhone battery without many rare earth elements and China controls about 90 percent of the rare earth supply. Read More »

 
 

The cleantech sector is tricky when it comes to investments. We’re asking you to weigh in with your thoughts about cleantech investing — will you continue to invest in the space and what do you think will be the outlook for 2012? Read More »

LanzaTech raises $56M, targets Asia with biofuel tech

Asia, with its rapidly growing number of car owners and large pollution problems, could very well be the biggest market for biofuels and green chemicals one day. LanzaTech, which announced Monday it has raised $55.8 million, is certainly finding more willing customers and partners Asia. Read More »

Startups looking to disrupt the traditional energy industries — oil, coal, gas-burning cars — need to have more than just innovative technology. They need a team and a plan in place that can scale their technologies to compete on the massive scale needed. Read More »

A complaint accusing Chinese solar cell and module manufacturers of flooding the U.S. market with unfairly low-priced goods cleared a hurdle to move forward Friday with a 6-0 vote by the U.S. International Trade Commission. Read More »

Kleiner Perkins’s $250 million China fund represents the logical next step in a migration of cleantech investment toward China, points out GigaOM Green IT analyst Adam Lesser. Here’s three reasons cleantech VC dollars are heading east. Read More »

Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is raising a second $250 million fund to invest in Chinese companies, according to a filing. Kleiner hasn’t closed on any of the funds yet, called the KPCB China Fund II, according to the document. Read More »

Another dark cloud is waiting for solar companies: the decline of government incentives that in the past have pumped the growth of the solar market worldwide. The United Kingdom, for example, plans to halve its subsidies for solar panels in 2012. Read More »

Solyndra bankruptcy has helped to fuel resentment toward China for its generous subsidies of Chinese solar companies. That resentment has morphed into petitions filed Wednesday that ask the U.S. government to investigate Chinese companies for allegedly flooding the U.S. market with goods below costs. Read More »

Coda sedan

China has long been perceived as the must-tackle market for clean power and cleantech, but it’s also become a spigot of private capital for startups that find the marriage of money and market opportunity particularly appealing. Read More »

Boston-Power, which once dreamed of building a lithium-ion cell battery factory in the United States, announced Tuesday it has lined up $125 million of investments to shift a big part of its business to China and thin its operation in the U.S. by about 35 percent. Read More »

More Must Reads

Solar company JinkoSolar faced a huge, four-day protest against its toxic waste dumping practices at its factory in China over the weekend, during the same time when the company announced its sponsorship of the San Francisco 49ers. Read More »

Does the Chinese government want to be a cleantech VC? That seems to be the case as the government announced a plan to invest directly or through venture capital funds in startups that are developing technologies including alternative energy and cars. Read More »

Only 72 percent of China’s wind-power sources are connected to its grid — meaning there’s a good deal of wind turbines that are spinning that aren’t providing usable clean power. Battery maker A123 Systems hopes its first deal in China can help with that problem. Read More »

The common thread in greentech is: China. The country, which has been the world’s key growth engine for clean energy and green technology over the past few years, has begun to see some weakness, and that’s causing ripple effects through the global green economy. 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 »

How do you encourage consumers to switch to electric cars? Here’s two not-so-obvious ways, according to an Accenture survey released on Wednesday: offer free parking and get more utilities to build charging networks. Read More »

For electric motorcycle maker Zero Motorcycles, springtime is shaping up to be a season of change. The company announced today that CEO Gene Banman is retiring. This comes just about a month after co-founder Neal Saiki stepped down from his role as chief technology officer. Read More »

China is either the greatest opportunity or the greatest threat the U.S. green technology industry has ever faced — or, according to Chinese greentech experts at Wednesday’s Cleantech Forum in San Francisco, somewhere in between. Read More »

Over the past year China has emerged as one of the largest smart grid markets in the world and according to a report out this week will grow from $22.3 billion in 2011 to $61.4 billion in 2015. What’s a key way in? Partnerships. Read More »

First Solar’s own power generation projects have always been mounted on racks that don’t tilt throughout the day to follow the sun, but the company is exploring the use of trackers. First Solar announced Friday it has bought RayTracker for an undisclosed sum. Read More »

First Solar’s big plan to eventually build 2 gigawatts of power plants in China’s Inner Mongolia has moved ahead. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with China Guangdong Nuclear Solar Energy Development Co. on Wednesday to develop the first phase, 30-megawatt project. Read More »

Chinese wind turbine maker Sinovel Wind plans to raise about 9.46 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) in what would be Shanghai’s biggest ever IPO. That’s pretty aggressive, but given China’s booming greentech economy, perhaps not unexpected. Read More »

Both Google and the government have taught us one important lesson: data rules. On Friday, U.S. officials said they will develop what they called the “first-ever, comprehensive and up-to-date database” of satellite images that will show land-use changes around the world. Read More »

Powerline communications — sending data over the same wiring and power lines that carry electricity — could be set to capture increasing market share from wireless in the smart grid space. Here’s why. Read More »

With China’s greentech-friendly government policies, the country’s super hot economy, and the need for resource management for the rapidly booming population, China is clearly becoming a greentech world leader. And the VCs at VantagePoint Venture Partners want a piece of it. Read More »

Molycorp, a company that controls one of the largest deposits outside China of a group of metals used in many green technologies, is off to a rocky start on the public markets after raising $393.8 million in its IPO today. Read More »

A group of 20 senators is urging the Department of Energy to open its loan guarantee program to projects meant to increase U.S. production of rare earth elements, a group of metals used in used in a variety of green technologies. Read More »

If Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. is already an 800-pound gorilla in the solar panel industry, it’s now seeking a more than $5 billion credit line to become one heavy beast. Read More »

ZAP, the Santa Rosa, Calif.-based developer of low-speed electric vehicles, says it has closed a deal to buy a 51 percent stake in China’s Zhijiang Jonway Automobile Co. for $29.03 million in cash. Read More »

As Google’s ongoing standoff with Chinese authorities has demonstrated, doing business in China can be a labyrinthine task. Who do greentech entrepreneurs need to know to start doing business in China, and how can you start making those connections? Read More »

What the Government Accountability Office describes as “palpable excitement” and an unprecedented gush of federal investment won’t be enough to establish intercity high-speed passenger rail service in the U.S. Read More »

BYD, the China-based battery giant turned electric car developer, has just struck a deal with Germany’s Daimler to form a 50-50 joint venture focused on researching and developing an electric vehicle for the Chinese market, and launching it “as soon as possible.” Read More »

Coda Automotive, a California-based electric car startup that has partnered with Chinese battery giant Lishen, plans to apply “soon” for Department of Energy loans. If that funding and state aid comes through, then Coda to build a battery factory in Ohio. Read More »

Coda Automotive, the startup that aims to build electric cars in China for the U.S. market, has just announced the close of a whopping $58 million Series C round of financing to help launch its first vehicle — the Coda Sedan — in California later this … Read More »

JinkoSolar Holding, a China-based solar manufacturer, priced shares for its IPO and began trading Friday at $11 apiece — the low end of the expected range. In morning trading, Jinko’s stock has dipped as low as $10.80 and hit a high of $11.23. Read More »

Coda Automotive’s CFO doesn’t see Nissan or BYD presenting much of a threat as the Coda Sedan rolls out, despite lower prices for their electric cars. He’s skeptical about the Nissan LEAF’s range and how quickly BYD will complete U.S. safety testing. Read More »

This weekend Better Place announced that it has struck a partnership with Chinese car maker Chery to collaborate on electric vehicle technology. The deal is light on specifics, but if expanded, could offer Better Place a way in to the world’s most important car market. Read More »

China’s BYD boasts Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and David Sokol as beta testers for its electric vehicles. “They’re definitely coming to the United States,” Sokol said today, but timing will depend in part on how quickly it can ramp up battery production. Read More »

With most of the world still reeling from the global financial crisis, China shows no signs of slowing down. And, despite charges of obstructionism at the Copenhagen climate summit, the People’s Republic is steadily taking the lead in cleantech and the green economy. Read More »

Aptera, which aims to build three-wheeled hybrid and electric vehicles, is on the hunt for partners to help it build vehicles in China for the Chinese market. But Aptera says today it has no designs on shipping China-built cars to North America. Read More »

Electric car startup Coda Automotive has just announced the first funding for its joint venture with Chinese battery giant Lishen. The duo has agreed to invest $100 million in the venture, which just snagged a $294 million line of credit. Read More »

Chinese automaker Geely, which is known for its low-cost compacts, plans to buy the loss-making luxury brand Volvo for $1.8 billion from Ford Motor. How does the deal play into China’s larger role in the nascent electric vehicle market? Read More »

Venture capital and private equity: That’s the sweet spot for the U.S. and one of the only areas where the country leads the world in terms of financing a renewable energy buildout, according to a new report from the Pew Environment Group. Read More »

loading external resource
Click to log in with: Not you?
Comment as guest:
By continuing you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Submitting comment...
results