Remember eSolar, the solar thermal startup incubated by Idealab, and backed by Google.org, GE, and others? It’s still here and trying to raise a $30 million round, of which it’s close almost half. Read more »
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
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 energy. 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 »
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 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 »
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 »
Clicker is bringing new aspects to its video search and discovery engine, with the launch of new social tools that will allow its users to check in and rate their favorite programs, make recommendations to other users and find out what their friends are watching. Read more »
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 »
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 »
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 »
Here are some interesting posts from around the ‘Net to catch up with over the weekend: Seth Godin: “16 questions for free agents” WorkAwesome: “The Benefits of Working from Home” WorkAwesome: “How to Ask Your Boss to Work From Home” A List Apart: “Habit Fields” jkOnTheRun: […] 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 »
Google’s Mobile App lands on the BlackBerry Storm and Storm2 today. The voice query supports three languages and searches the web, contacts and emails. But even with apps like these, the BlackBerry platform isn’t really driving the mobile web. 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 has had […] Read more »
