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Cleantech

Nine more utilities, and three large energy vendors, announced support on Thursday for the Green Button project, which enables utility customers to download their energy consumption data with a click of a button and also use that data for energy-saving apps. Read More »

California utilities lay out smart grid roadmaps

Last week saw California’s big three utilities release in-depth smart grid deployment roadmaps, giving smart grid companies about the closest thing to a detailed plan of attack that they could ask for. Read More »

 
 

DOE backs largest rooftop solar project in U.S.

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 »

Utility takes on solar challenge with grid redesign

Adding more clean power to the grid will require utilities to redesign the network that transports solar electricity locally. Southern California Edison on Monday laid out its plan to make its distribution grid more responsive to the fluctuating infusion of solar electricity throughout the day. Read More »

So Cal Edison Contracts Over 800 MW Solar

Holy solar. Southern California Edison announced this morning that it has signed contracts with solar developers SunPower and Fotowatio Renewable Ventures to buy solar electricity for a total of 831 MW of solar projects. Read More »

Tessera Sells Troubled 850MW Solar Project

Tessera Solar said Tuesday it has sold an 850-megawatt solar energy project in California that, up until a few months ago, was poised to be a showcase piece for the company. Read More »

Competition Heating Up for the OpenADR Market

Honeywell bought a lock on a key piece of technology for OpenADR deployments when it bought Akuacom this summer. But challengers are emerging with OpenADR server products of their own. Read More »

LG Chem’s First U.S. Utility Customer: So Cal Edison

LG Chem has won its first deal in the utility market — it will supply lithium-ion battery packs for a Southern California Edison energy storage project. Read More »

The official verdict is out — Pacific Gas & Electric’s smart meter technology has been working properly, but its customer service hasn’t. That’s the conclusion of a state-ordered report released Thursday from independent analysts at the Structure Group. Read More »

Utilities know they have to figure out how to store energy produced intermittently, such as wind and solar, or store energy from fossil-fuel power plants to keep the grid loaded when wind turbines and solar energy equipment aren’t doing their best. Read More »

California’s Smart Meter Battle: Google vs. Utilities

Updated with comments from Google: There’s a battle looming in California over smart meters and energy prices. Google says the state should require its big utilities to give near real-time pricing information to every smart meter-enabled customer by the end of next year. California’s big … Read More »

First Solar, the thin film solar darling, has lined up another customer for the power generated at its planned Desert Sunlight project in Riverside County, Calif: Pacific Gas & Electric. Under a power purchasing agreement announced this morning, the California utility plans buy more … Read More »

More Must Reads

John Bryson, former CEO of Edison International and co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council, has a yen for startups that can take solar PV, smart meter communications, and battery technologies farther. At least those were some of the startups he plugged in his opening … Read More »

Thin-film solar PV maker First Solar has been aggressively buying solar projects, hoping to drive down project costs while spurring demand for its solar modules during the economic downturn. But First Solar isn’t in the business of holding onto these projects over the long term. … Read More »

For years, the U.S. solar-installation market has been driven mainly by independent developers and contractors who initiated most of the projects to put solar panels on rooftops and on the ground. But now, as some have predicted, it looks like utilities are starting to take … Read More »

After the Nasdaq opening bell rings Thursday morning, keep an eye out on the ticker for the symbol “AONE,” which represents Watertown, Mass-based battery startup A123Systems. The company is expected to set its price on Wednesday and trade Thursday and represents the first spot of … 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 »

Looks like California’s going to be getting a whole lot of solar power soon. After a year of discussions, the California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday not only approved Southern California Edison’s 250-megawatt rooftop solar project -– but doubled it. To jog your memory, the Rosemead, … Read More »

If anyone doubts the ability of renewable portfolio standards to spur the adoption of clean energy projects, they should look to California. The state is requiring that electric utilities need to get 20 percent of their power from solar, wind and other renewables by 2010, … 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 »

A good portion of the intelligence that will be added to the upcoming smart grid will be wireless — radios, sensors and access points strategically placed throughout the power grid and on our homes that can help manage energy consumption and distribution. Increasingly, utilities and companies … Read More »

Earlier this year, the nonprofit policy group Next 10 released a report on how energy efficiency and clean technology has provided stimulus for California’s economy — lending a fresh set of data to back up something we’ve noted more than once: The U.S. might do … Read More »

Update: It’s a massive 1.3 GW deal with solar startup BrightSource — read about it in our updated post. Southern California Edison plans to announce what it’s calling “the world’s largest solar deal” tomorrow morning, but details are scarce. There are … Read More »

President Obama has called for the installation of 40 million smart meters and 3,000 miles of transmission lines. That means 2009 could be the year that we finally start seeing real attention being paid to “Power Grid 2.0” — basically turning the electrical grid … Read More »

A parade of 74 plug-in vehicles really makes you realize how entirely silent electric cars are. We stopped by Plug-In America’s parade in Santa Monica, Calif., on Saturday morning, which celebrated the upcoming presidential inauguration, and the procession would have been almost eerily silent if … Read More »

UPDATED: Southern California Edison is set to hit a milestone today in its plans to install two square miles of solar panels in California — the completion of the largest rooftop solar installation in the … Read More »

When we first heard that California utility Southern California Edison was applying for a patent on smart meters, we were a bit concerned. Patent wars in the mobile and broadband industries have played a big a part in delaying innovation. But the utility seems to have … Read More »

California utility Southern California Edison has been slowly laying down the final details for one of the largest smart meter deployments in the U.S.: 5.3 million smart meters to be installed between 2009 and 2012. California’s regulatory body for all things power-related, the California Public Utilities … Read More »

There are more than 30 utility-scale solar power plants, one megawatt or larger, under various stages of development in the U.S., and we decided to start mapping them out. These are solar plants that have either signed a power purchase agreement with a utility, are included … Read More »

California utilities continue to snap up large clean energy contracts in preparation for the state’s aggressive renewable portfolio standard. Today, Southern California Edison announced it has signed a 20-year contract for 909 megawatts of wind power from DCE, an affiliate of Caithness … Read More »

West Coast utilities Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and Portland General Electric announced this week a few initiatives aimed at bringing electric vehicles closer to the road. Portland General Electric said it will focus on building out infrastructure for the electric vehicles through … Read More »

Last Friday California approved a contract between utility Southern California Edison and thin-film solar maker First Solar to build a thin-film photovoltaic project in Blythe, Calif. (on the border of Arizona). But just this morning the thin-film-plus-utility duo has more news to share: So … Read More »

The California Public Utilities Commission has approved what it says is the first utility-scale thin-film solar project to be built in California, in a contract between utility Southern California Edison and thin-film solar maker First Solar. The contract is for a 7.5 megawatt solar … 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 »

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