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Google's heliostat 2m x 3m, made of glass

After a couple of years under development, Google has shut down its project to design its own solar mirrors for a centralized solar thermal farm. Now it’s the job of researchers and solar execs to see if there’s anything to use from Google’s solar research. Read More »

Google is officially shutting down its own in-house research initiative and equity investing focus on lowering the cost of clean power, called Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal, or RE Read More »

 
 

The Googlization of solar is here, and software, big data, wireless networks and IT will be a fundamental part of the future of modern energy infrastructure. Read More »

General Electric is a major wind turbine maker and has announced big plans in the past year to tackle the solar market. But it may be the company’s strategy to expand its natural gas power plant equipment business that could be a significant driver of renewable … Read More »

GE has made a strategic investment in solar thermal startup eSolar and has entered into a deal for an exclusive license to deploy eSolar’s technology in combination with natural gas power plants. Read More »

NRG Goes on Solar Buying Spree, Nabs SunPower Project

In the past two years, a large electricity generator has emerged to be key booster of solar energy in the United States. NRG Energy is continuing its acquisition spree with an announcement Tuesday that it plans to buy a 250-megawatt project by SunPower. Read More »

BrightSource Energy and French power giant Alstom have formed a partnership aimed at building solar-thermal power plants in a ring around the Mediterranean. In terms of geography, if not scale, the plan echoes the scheme of the Desertec Initiative, the mega-giant of solar-thermal projects. Read More »

Morgan Solar at Solar Power International 2010

Morgan Solar has settled on a production plan and is ready to offer its first system that use concentrated sunlight and solar cells to produce electricity in 2011. Now Morgan Solar is counting on its new CEO to deliver a new round of funding. Read More »

Google’s clean power ambitions are ramping up. The company has hired Philip Gleckman, former chief scientist at solar thermal startup eSolar, to work on solar tech internally for Google. Read More »

Cold Reality in the Solar Thermal World

Schott Solar’s announcement that it plans to halve its factory capacity for solar thermal equipment and will lay off 30 workers is a sobering reminder of some of the hurdles ahead for this emerging industry (or re-emerging, depending on your perspective). Read More »

eSolar Founder Launching Solar Thermal For the Next Billion

Asif Ansari, the founding CEO of eSolar, left the solar thermal startup about a year ago to pursue a project he couldn’t get out of his head: how to bring solar thermal to the developing world. Read More »

Tesla IPO: What's an Electric Car Maker Worth?

How much is an electric car maker worth? Some of the world’s largest automakers have invested significant sums into plug-in vehicle development efforts, but Tesla’s IPO gives us the first real glimpse of how the market values an electric vehicle business. Read More »

More Must Reads

Now that solar rooftop panel maker Solyndra has ditched its IPO dreams are there other solar folks in line? According to Next Up! Research solar thermal startup eSolar, with an estimated valuation of close to $700 million, could be next on deck for an IPO. Read More »

Abengoa Solar, eSolar and Infinia are among the companies selected to benefit from a new round of Department of Energy investments in concentrating solar power. The goal? Tap the power of the sun 18 hours a day and kick the coal habit. Read More »

Idealab founder and CEO Bill Gross tells us that his solar thermal company eSolar can deploy its mirrors for “half the cost” of other solar thermal developers and the Chinese government is looking to deploy its solar tech in hybrid form in conjunction with burning biomass. Read More »

Bill Gross, founder and CEO of incubator Idealab, (who is speaking at our Green:Net conference on April 29) tells Business Insider in a fascinating 30-minute video interview, that failure is OK, as long as it’s fast, inexpensive and you learn from it. Gross, who … Read More »

It’s one thing for a company to score a utility deal to build a solar thermal power plant; it’s another thing entirely to get that solar project permitted, connected to transmission lines and financed, says Fred Morse, U.S. senior adviser to Abengoa Solar, the solar arm … Read More »

Whoa — big news on the solar thermal front today, as French power giant Areva says it’s agreed to buy solar thermal startup Ausra. Back in November there were several media reports that said Ausra was in talks to be acquired by one of three … Read More »

As solar thermal firms like eSolar have started flipping switches on their first projects in U.S. deserts, I’ve been eagerly waiting the stirling engine solar folks to officially enter the game. Looks like we’re getting one project at the end of this month: Read More »

Updated: China isn’t just going gangbusters on solar photovoltaic systems (like this 2 GW deal with thin film solar firm First Solar). Over the weekend solar thermal startup eSolar said it has won a licensing deal with Chinese power equipment maker Penglai Electric to … Read More »

Several events in the solar industry in recent weeks have made clear just how valuable executives with semiconductor chops are to the solar biz, as they can bring decades of knowledge of low-cost chip manufacturing, as well as experience working with suppliers of silicon itself. Read More »

Solar thermal developer eSolar is continuing its rush of deal-making, saying today that it’s inked a partnership with a South African-based energy firm to expand sales operations across the sub-Saharan region of the continent. Under terms of the deal, Johannesburg-based Clean Energy Solutions will exclusively … Read More »

Updated with notes from the event:eSolar, a solar developer that uses modular designs, small mirrors and computing power to lower the cost of solar thermal technology, has turned on what it says is the first solar thermal power tower plant in the U.S: the 5 … Read More »

The deals keep coming for solar thermal startup eSolar, indicating confidence from utilities –- but also increasing pressure on the Pasadena, Calif.-based company to deliver quickly. The startup on Thursday announced plans to build a 92-megawatt plant in Lancaster, Calif. It has signed a deal … Read More »

Concentrating solar-thermal company eSolar hasn’t been shy about taking on new projects. The Pasadena, Calif.-based company on Thursday announced another one: an agreement to develop a 92-megawatt plant in southern New Mexico with Princeton, N.J.-based energy company NRG Energy. The companies say they are ready … Read More »

eSolar, a startup that claims to leverage algorithms and software to bring down the cost of solar power thermal plants, has signed its second licensing and investment deal in as many weeks. These deals prove promising for the startup as the company Read More »

Those kooky solar engineers are always up for a good lark! The engineers at eSolar decided to really cut loose for this year’s birthday celebration of the firm’s founder, Bill Gross. They put together this video, which is the equivalent of an all-night drinking binge in … 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 »

eSolar, the startup that says it’s using computing and algorithms to produce low-cost solar thermal gear, says it has signed a commercial contract with Sundrop Fuels, a young solar startup backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. eSolar, which was recently backed by $130 … Read More »

eSolar is one of a dozen startups that are looking to build solar thermal plants in the deserts of California. While the company says it’s using the lessons of infotech — computing and algorithms — to make low cost modular solar, we were wondering … Read More »

eSolar, the solar startup backed by Google.org and Bill Gross’ Idealab, said today that it’s inked a deal to build a 245 MW solar thermal power plant in the Antelope Valley region of Southern California and sell that solar power to utility Southern California … Read More »

While solar thermal companies eSolar and Stirling both announced funding in the 9-digits last week, another startup using the sun’s heat to create energy disclosed a more modest round this week. SkyFuel, an Albuquerque, N.M.-based company that has created a cheap, light … Read More »

eSolar, a startup building solar thermal power plants that was one of the first cleantech startups backed by Google, has pulled in $130 million, the company says this morning; the funding comes from Google.org, Bill Gross’ Idealab, Oak Investment Partners and other investors. … Read More »

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