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Cleantech

Battery innovation, at least at the prototype level, is alive and well in the U.S. and could even lead the next-generation of transportation and grid tech. Read More »

All hail the Tron crossing guard.

The third annual ARPA-E conference — created to highlight research and startups that have received mostly small grants from the Department of Energy — kicked off just outside of Washington DC on Monday. Here’s my photos of some of the next-gen energy tech from the show: Read More »

 
 

A startup called Envia Systems that’s been working on lithium ion battery technology says it’s developed a key breakthrough that could one day lead to an electric car that has a 300-mile range and could cost around $25,000 to $30,000. Read More »

President Obama wants more natural gas development, and with it he wants to see more natural gas powered cars on American streets. He announced Thursday a $30 million R&D fund to develop technologies that will make natural gas cars cheaper and safer to drive and refuel. … Read More »

Grid battery startup Aquion Energy announced on Tuesday that it plans to build a factory in Pennsylvania and begin production of its sodium batteries starting in 2013. Read More »

How likely is it that electric car company Fisker Automotive will be able to draw down on the remaining $339 million of its Department of Energy loan? According to one analyst, not likely. Read More »

The White House sent its proposed budget for 2013 to Congress on Monday, and the plan calls for boosting funding for clean power and energy efficiency, seeks to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies and doesn’t seek additional funds for the loan guarantee program. Read More »

Electric vehicle maker Fisker Automotive announced on Monday that it has halted work on its second electric car called Project Nina at its factory in Delaware, has laid off 26 workers, and is attempting to renegotiate the terms of its loan with the U.S. government. Read More »

Some good news and bad news for the beleaguered battery maker Ener1. On Thursday, the company announced it’s filing for Chapter 11 in New York, but has done so under a pre-arranged restructuring plan that includes commitments for up to $81 million from investors. Read More »

Private equity firm Silver Lake’s first foray into energy and cleantech investing is gonna be a big one. According to a filing, Silver Lake Kraftwerk is raising a $1.25 billion fund and has closed a little over $200 million of it. Read More »

Beacon Power, the flywheel maker that filed for bankruptcy last month after winning a $43 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy, announced on Saturday that it plans to sell its 20 MW flywheel plant in Stephentown, New York, to pay back the DOE loan. … Read More »

Electric vehicle startup Fisker Automotive has dramatically scaled back production plans of its first car, the Karma, in the fourth quarter of 2011, and it won’t ramp up to full production until the second quarter of 2012. Read More »

More Must Reads

It’s been over a month since the Solyndra news came out, but it’s still dominating. Because it just won’t go away, here’s my top five list of projects that the DOE also backed with loan guarantees and that are showing some early signs of success. Read More »

The DOE’s new No. 2, Richard Kauffman, started his job on the Tuesday after the Solyndra announcement. He sees Solyndra as an example of cheap Chinese financing, which is behind the decline in Chinese solar cells, compared to the high costs of financing in the U.S. Read More »

As energy use by the U.S. military grows — the Department of Defense (DoD) uses 300,000 barrels of oil every day — the conversation about how the military can consume cleaner power continues to grow, too. One potentially good fit could be concentrating solar photovoltaic technology. Read More »

This week Solyndra announced plans to file for bankruptcy and said it will lay off 1,100 employees. How will the event impact the larger cleantech industry, greentech startup funding and the solar sector as a whole? We ask you to weigh in. 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 »

Three-wheeled electric-car startup Aptera has already delayed the launch of its car and has discussed restructuring and moving its manufacturing out of California. But it looks like the company is not completely down for the count: According to a filing, Aptera has raised $2.5 million in … 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 »

Biofuel startup KiOR has priced its IPO at $15 per share, below its estimated price per share of between $19 to $21. Read More »

While electric car maker Fisker Automotive is in the process of launching its first electric car, the Karma, to dealerships and customers this summer, the auto startup says it is also starting to hire workers for its next-generation electric car, dubbed code name Project Nina. Read More »

The Department of Energy has awarded so many loan guarantees to solar companies this week, it’s getting difficult to keep track. The latest, announced Friday, is a $150 million loan guarantee to 1366 Technologies, a startup that innovates around silicon wafer production. Read More »

Electric car maker Fisker Automotive has already raised over $1 billion in equity, loans and grants. And yet, the company, which will be launching its first inaugural electric car this summer, has raised another $100 million. That’s on top of the $190 million which recently closed. Read More »

There was some concern that the Department of Energy’s loan program would fall victim to budget cuts. But at GigaOM’s Green:Net conference Thursday, DOE Loan Chief Jonathan Silver said that despite those fears, changes in the new budget have actually been somewhat favorable to the program. Read More »

Today, at our third-annual Green:Net event, we’re looking at digital energy: how technology can reduce energy consumption and help the environment. The livestream begins at 8:25 PT, and we’ll update this post throughout the day with the liveblogs from the event. Read More »

In a combination of loans, grants and equity, Fisker has raised over $1 billion, and plans to launch its first electric car the Karma to dealerships for demonstrations in May or June and then to customers in June or July. Read More »

The DOE’s Loan Program will seek guidance from relevant nuclear agencies on lessons learned from the Japanese nuclear incident, but at this point remains committed to nuclear power, said Jonathan Silver, DOE Loan Chief at the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco on Wednesday. Read More »

When it comes to green stimulus, the world is halfway done — and China and Japan lead in the race, according to a Tuesday report. But the United States is catching up, though not without some hiccups along the way. Read More »

Offshore wind power will get a $50.5 million research boost and dedicated “Wind Energy Area” in the mid-Atlantic region under a new federal plan. Google and co-investors in a $5 billion offshore wind transmission project will be pleased. Read More »

Energy Secretary Steven Chu stopped by Google headquarters on Friday to talk about green technology. He would like China to invest in America’s green future, not own it. To challenge China’s growing lead, the U.S. may have to boost its support of homegrown technologies. Read More »

Intermittent solar power systems could cause lots of grid instability, unless utilities can communicate with them in some kind of common language using a set of common commands. Here’s a list of those top commands, and how they may emerge as industry standards. Read More »

While it might seem like the spigot of stimulus money has just opened up — with new funding solicitations and announcements coming out every week and companies spending significant time and money in an effort to grab some of it — don’t get too accustomed … Read More »

The U.S. wind power industry has huge potential, both onshore and off, but it’s clearly looking for a hand from the government to get through these tough times. First there’s the billions in tax credits from the stimulus package that will benefit … Read More »

If you’re holding out for a new fuel cell car to drive onto the hydrogen highway, you may have to wait a while. The Department of Energy in a new report says fuel cell costs are … Read More »

New Mission for Iceland’s Geothermal Industry: Engineers in Iceland, where geothermal power provides 30 percent of the nation’s electricity, have learned how to keep a geothermal plant running smoothly at relatively low cost. But startup costs — surveying and extracting heat from below the earth’s surface … Read More »

Electric car startup Tesla Motors claims that all it needs to begin construction on a manufacturing plant in San Jose, Calif., is a $200 million loan guarantee from the federal government. CEO Elon Musk has described the loan guarantee as a “when, not an if,” Read More »

The world’s oceans are an energetic place, and military-industrial giant Lockheed Martin said today it has been granted $1.2 million by the Department of Energy to demonstrate that ocean thermal energy conversion is possible. Although the ocean often doesn’t feel very warm, the temperature … Read More »

Cellulosic ethanol startup Mascoma announced today that it has raised $49.5 million to build its first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Read More »

When the U.S. Department of Energy pulled the plug on the FutureGen project, the clean coal industry was left adrift, aimless in the cleantech sea. The DOE said FutureGen’s ballooning cost required “restructuring” of the program. That restructuring has come in the form of … Read More »

Yeah, I know, loan guarantees aren’t the most scintillating topic around, but stay with me. They’re a big deal when it comes to financing big clean energy projects and not really that difficult to understand. Essentially a loan guarantee is a promise by the government to … Read More »

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