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Cleantech

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 »

Amonix

Amonix, which makes concentrating solar photovoltaic tech that uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto solar cells, will cut 76 workers across its offices in California, according to a Dow Jones Venture Wire report. Read More »

 
 

Building a startup that develops solar-powered microgrids in rural Indian villages is as hard as it sounds. Hear the lessons learned from one entrepreneur who co-founded a startup called Mera Gao Power and turned it into a real business. Read More »

Finally the worlds of big data geeks and clean energy nerds have collided. Researchers have proposed building a “GreenHadoop,” that is a version of the MapReduce programming framework that could manage a data center’s computing workload to optimize clean energy from a solar system. Read More »

A startup called GELI, lead by battery guru Ryan Wartena, has developed an operating system and software for grid batteries and plans to launch its beta software in the coming weeks. Think of it like the Android for energy. Read More »

The Kickstarter for solar, Solar Mosaic, is just about to launch the truly disruptive part of its business: this Summer the startup plans to start offering people a way to buy into rooftop solar panel projects, and make back a return on their investment over time. 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 »

6 smart grid projects you don’t see every day

Six smart grid projects you don’t see everyday courtesy of Smart Grid News. Read More »

The tower at the Chevron, BrightSource solar oil plant

The story behind why solar thermal company BrightSource Energy pulled its IPO: basically because it could. Read More »

Despite the series of withdrawals of greentech IPOs this month, solar rooftop installer SolarCity announced on Monday that it is planning for an IPO. Will it fare better than the other greentech IPO hopefuls this month? Read More »

India is struggling to add more electricity capacity for the country’s rapidly growing economy, but the domestic coal industry is an absolute mess. That situation means that India could possibly be one of the most high-growth solar markets in the world. Read More »

Buried in last week’s catfight between Apple and Greenpeace over the energy sourcing for Apple’s new North Carolina data center and how clean it would be, was a surprising fact — that the conversation between Apple and Greenpeace was happening at all. Read More »

More Must Reads

India is testing out an idea that marries solar panels with irrigation canals and conserves land and water. Read More »

It looks like the end times are near for U.S. support for cleantech, at least according to a report out from the Breakthrough Institute, the Brookings Institution and the World Resources Institute. Read More »

The Indian state of Gujarat — a hot bed of solar power development over the past year — will throw a big party on Thursday to celebrate the commissioning of 600 MW of solar energy projects over just one year. Read More »

In the wake of Solar Trust’s recent bankruptcy, conservatives were eager to brand the company’s collapse as another Solyndra. Cleantech has become highly politicized, so much so that Obama’s first reelection ad was a defense of his clean energy policy. Read More »

SunPower, whose fight for survival forced it to find a new owner and embark on a significant cost-reduction plan, said on Monday that it will stop producing cells at one of its factories to save money. Read More »

Internet e-commerce company eBay has covered the roof of its data center (called Topaz) in Utah with solar panels. Read More »

In the wake of one of the world’s largest nuclear power disasters in history last year in Japan, the country is re-thinking its energy policy and looking to provide incentives to boost clean power starting this July. Our charticle: Read More »

While wind power is one of the cheapest forms of clean power, it’s also one of the most fickle, and to combat that problem, utilities are experimenting with energy storage, and in particular batteries. Read More »

A new report out of the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Labs says that the $9 billion clean power cash grant program (formally called the 1603 grant program), which expired at the end of 2011, was actually working and creating jobs and economic output. Read More »

Nevada has tried very hard to attract solar energy investments and one of its latest efforts is both grandly ambitious and peculiar: Chinese energy company ENN Group promises to invest $5 billion to build a solar panel factory, a solar power plant, and an “eco-community.” Read More »

According to a filing with the North Carolina Utilities Commission, Apple’s fuel cell farm at its data center in North Carolina could start operating by June and will use twenty four 200 kW fuel cells. Read More »

Solar inverter maker Enphase Energy, which made its market debut this morning, rose in morning trading by as much as 29 percent to $7.76, but settled back down to $7.22 by noon ET. Read More »

Education about energy is crucial for smarter decision making, which is why I’m excited that the Energy Literacy document, created by the DOE and many others, is finally out. Read More »

The dark cloud of Solyndra might have lifted a bit, but, yes, it’s still here. Solyndra’s Chief Restructuring Officer, Todd Neilson, an outside bankruptcy expert and former FBI agent, has just completed and published a 204-page report on what-the-heck happened with Solyndra. Read More »

Three environmental group on Monday filed suit against the federal government over a proposed solar farm in California, contending that the government has failed in its duty to ensure the project would not pose a significant harm to wildlife. Read More »

A decade-old claim with a predecessor to NRG Energy, Dynegy, over power contracts during the state’s energy crisis, will turn into a $120 million settlement fund to invest in building out an electric car charging network in California. Read More »

We need “energy miracles,” in at least five areas, and in each of these areas “we need at least two hundred crazy people who think their idea alone can solve this,” said Bill Gates at the Wall Street Journal’s Eco:nomics conference on Thursday night. Read More »

The inaugural PV America West solar trade show, which took place in San Jose amid a big trade dispute involving Chinese manufacturers, offered novel solar equipment designs and robotic technology as well as an interesting mix of marketing and politics. Read More »

Royal Dutch Shell CEO, Peter Voser, says energy efficiency technology is a must-have to help feed a world with a growing appetite for energy, but the same can’t be say for alternative energy sources such as wind and solar. Read More »

In a difficult year for clean energy we need as many calls to action as possible. Here’s a 7 point plan for clean energy that Michael Liebreich, CEO and founder of Bloomberg’s New Energy Finance, showed off on Tuesday morning: Read More »

Clean energy will drive the next wave of economic growth, and will be the first development mechanism in the U.S. since we won the Cold War, said retired General Wesley Clark during a keynote at solar conference PV America West in San Jose Monday. Read More »

Utilities don’t often invest in new tech manufacturing, but then, California’s PG&E isn’t your average utility. PG&E has requested state approval to enable it to invest $9.9 million of taxpayer money into a solar engineering and manufacturing service center run by commercialization startup SVTC Technologies. Read More »

Professor Tom Murphy lays out his rosy vision for what he thinks the world could accomplish in the near term to maximize the chances of coming out shiny and happy on the tail end of the fossil fuel saga. Read More »

Solar panel projects only started to vie for California utilities’ interest in 2007, yet the tech is set to become the largest piece of renewable energy in the state in less than a decade. Check out our charts: Read More »

The Green IT section of our GigaOM Pro service has been cranking out a lot of rock solid research and long form reports in 2012. Come check out our new 30-page state of solar report, our smart thermostat research and new analysis on batteries. Read More »

Did the Warren Buffett investment machine see some seriously undervalued assets in solar, even as most investors have recently viewed the solar industry as a train wreck? Read More »

While so many startups in the U.S. and Germany have been trying to build commercial-scale businesses off of making solar panels made of copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS), really only one is making strides at any kind of scale: Japan’s Solar Frontier. Read More »

Let’s face it. For cleantech, at least in the U.S., this year was kindof a bummer. But that’s what New Year’s resolutions and wishes are for: turning a new page when the year starts over. Here’s what I want from cleantech in 2012. Read More »

Cell phones are one of the few products that have found mass success in developing countries. So why not use the model to sell other stuff, like solar power? That’s the idea behind Simpa Networks, a startup based in Bangalore, India. Read More »

Thin film solar startup SoloPower continues to fund-raise, amid a difficult market for next-gen solar manufacturers. According to a filing, SoloPower has just raised $20 million in debt and options that will help provide fuel for the company’s factory to mass-produce its solar panels. Read More »

“It’s year one for solar in India,” says Alan Rosling, the chairman and executive director of Kiran Energy, a solar developer startup based in Mumbai. Kiran Energy has 75 MW’s worth of solar contracts; that makes it the largest solar-specific player in India. Read More »

As a result of the bankruptcies of Solyndra and Beacon Power, the Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee Program is now under heavy scrutiny. But a new Bloomberg report digs into the numbers and finds the program is a lot more successful than it has seemed. Read More »

How efficient is personal-powered transport — namely, walking and biking? After stuffing myself over Thanksgiving, I am curious to know how potent human fuel can be. How many miles per gallon do we get as our own engines of transportation? Read More »

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