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 »
First Solar has broken its own record. The company announced Tuesday that it’s able to produce a thin-film solar panel that can convert 14.4 percent of the sunlight that hits it into electricity. The new record exceeds the 13.4 percent it achieved last year. Read more »
Solar service provider Sungevity under went some serious expansion in 2011 as it began to target the East Coast and overseas, and lined up Lowe’s as an investor and partner. Now following that growth, the startup has started raising a new funding round of $40.8 million. Read more »
Solar tech companies have suffered in 2011, and a speedy recovery in 2012 doesn’t seem likely. But the market holds huge potential for growth, and this dark time shall pass. Here is our look at solar trends to watch for in 2012. Read more »
The dramatic news last Wednesday that the $3 billion U.S. solar industry bellwether First Solar was exiting subsidy-dependent markets and instead shifting focus toward utilities was a sobering indicator of what the subsidy environment will look like in the next few years. First Solar’s new strategy ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
First Solar has had enough with subsidized solar markets and will bet its future on sales in countries in which solar companies that can provide low-priced equipment and engineering services will make money and stay in business, company executives said Wednesday. Read more »
While 2011 will be remember as a troubling year for solar manufacturers, it also is a year when major U.S. power companies such as Duke, MidAmerican and Exelon took a plunge into investing and owning solar power plants. Read more »
Warren Buffet’s power company, MidAmerican Energy Holdings, is jumping into solar power and plans to buy up a massive solar farm from First Solar. The planned 550 MW solar panel farm called Topaz is in San Luis Obispo County in central California. Read more »
The California Energy Commission is scheduled to consider whether to take on the role of licensing photovoltaic power plants, an authority that usually rests with local governments such as counties and cities. The decision could greatly expand its authority to shape the state’s solar energy development. Read more »
Half of successful VC-backed cleantech start-ups stumble along the way. Entrepreneurs who raise big financing rounds at sky-high valuations can end up shooting themselves in the foot. Read more »
Morgan Solar, a startup whose technology uses optics to boost solar cells’ power output, said Tuesday it’s lined up $9.8 million to commercialize is technology. Read more »
Suntech, the largest solar manufacturer in China if not the world in terms of production capacity, saw 22 percent of its sales in the third quarter of this year from China. Read more »
A glut of solar panels and crushing prices have made life difficult for solar manufacturers this year, and bad news keeps coming. Longtime solar thin-film maker Energy Conversion Devices, which has factories in Michigan, Canada and Mexico, has suspended manufacturing and will furlough 400 workers. Read more »
India is enjoying great love from solar companies as a result of its solar incentive programs. But rule changes to its national solar program also gives some companies a big advantage — namely First Solar. Read more »
Solar manufacturers have been on supercharged expansion mode over the past five years in order to cut costs and solar prices. But to continue that march at this point is just unwise. First Solar is now putting off bringing online a solar panel factory in Vietnam. Read more »
There’s been a similar sentiment from both companies that received loan guarantees from the Department of Energy and then declared bankruptcy: The terms of the loans were too onerous. Read more »
Another dark cloud is waiting for solar companies: the decline of government incentives that in the past have pumped the growth of the solar market worldwide. The United Kingdom, for example, plans to halve its subsidies for solar panels in 2012. Read more »
A day after announcing an abrupt departure of its CEO, First Solar has some good news that is helping to stem the rapid dive of its stock: pretty good third quarter earnings. Read more »
It’s been a rocky couple of months for solar companies, but First Solar just hit an unexpected hurdle. The thin-film solar darling announced that Rob Gillette will no longer serve as its CEO, and Chairman and Founder Mike Ahearn will step in as interim CEO. Read more »
Solyndra bankruptcy has helped to fuel resentment toward China for its generous subsidies of Chinese solar companies. That resentment has morphed into petitions filed Wednesday that ask the U.S. government to investigate Chinese companies for allegedly flooding the U.S. market with goods below costs. Read more »
This week’s gathering of the solar industry in Dallas at a conference will become a temporary central command for solar energy advocates who see an urgent need to fight back against negative public sentiment about solar that resulted from Solyndra’s federal loan and bankruptcy. Read more »
General Electric has been plotting a solar empire for several years now, and it has settled on a place for the crown jewel of the plan: a 400 MW factory in Colorado to produce solar panels and compete with the likes of First Solar. Read more »
A Department of Energy loan guarantee program that has attracted unwanted attention through its Solyndra deal is ending today, and the DOE is marking the occasion by finalizing billions of dollars of loan guarantees to First Solar, SunPower and Prologis. Read more »
On Friday, the DOE announced the closing of three loan guarantees, but also said solar installer SolarCity won’t be securing a loan guarantee for a military solar housing project. SolarCity said they lost the loan guarantee partly because of an investigation into the Solyndra loan. Read more »
Solyndra’s bankruptcy has shined a harsh spotlight on a federal loan guarantee program, and that spotlight now includes a company that’s in better financial health than Solyndra. First Solar announced Thursday it won’t get a billion-dollar loan guarantee for a California solar project. Read more »
Amidst intense scrutiny of the Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program via the Solyndra scandal, September has still emerged as critical for a series of solar companies that hope to close federal loan guarantees and start construction on solar farms by the end of the month. Read more »
While an uproar has arisen over the loan guarantees for solar from the U.S. Department of Energy (namely the one for Solyndra), another federal agency has also been making hundreds of millions of dollars worth of loans and loan guarantees to support the U.S. solar industry. Read more »
Solar technology startup Solyndra, which has raised more than $1.5 billion in private and government funds, has suspended manufacturing and laid off 1,100 full-time and temporary employees. We conducted a survey and asked GigaOM readers for their views on the fallout of Solyndra’s decision to file for bankruptcy and what the future holds for the company. This research examines the survey’s results. It also includes an analysis of Solyndra’s struggles over the past two years to move into mass production, and to do it amidst difficult and volatile economic conditions. Companies mentioned in this report include Evergreen Solar, First Solar and SpectraWatt. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
What has to happen for the solar industry to recover from the slump? That’s been on the minds of manufacturers, service providers and investors in recent months as solar panels were piling up in warehouses and prices were falling faster than a Russian rocket. Read more »
Solar companies haven’t fared well so far this year, so it’s not surprisingly that Applied Materials, which makes factory equipment for solar, also has seen drops in sales. The company reported on Wednesday a 12-percent fall in sales between its two most recent quarters. Read more »
A controversy has emerged at the California Energy Commission over whether the commission should have authority to issue permits for photovoltaic power plants – projects that use solar panels. Tomorrow, the commission will consider a developer’s request for the commission to do just that. Read more »
A year ago, California and federal regulators were busy reviewing and signing off on giant solar farms. Now, the pace has slowed considerably as fewer projects are up for review and uncertainty over federal subsidy programs loom. Read more »
So-called “third-generation” ultra-thin film solar company Solexant has amassed another $23.47 million in equity from investors, according to a filing, and at the same time has reportedly abandoned a $25 million loan from the state of Oregon. Read more »
Declining solar incentives in key markets such as Italy and Germany have disrupted sales for many solar companies, and SunPower in particular has been hit quite hard. On Tuesday the company posted second-quarter losses and promised to speed up plans to reduce costs. Read more »
As more solar farms arise in the sunny corners of the U.S., it’s inevitable that solar developers will have to play ball with environmentalists. First Solar and SunPower announced an agreement with the environmental groups to add thousands of acres near their projects for wildlife protection. Read more »
After the great market sell-off yesterday, stocks are rebounding slightly on Tuesday, including many of the greentech stocks that took a beating yesterday. But most of them are only up slightly. Here’s the latest: Read more »
Tech stocks took a beating on Monday morning, the first day of trading after Standard & Poor downgraded the credit ratings of credit agencies. At the same time, greentech stocks — from solar to biofuels to smart grid — fell alongside the weak macro economic news. Read more »
First Solar posts a huge slide in earnings Tuesday but promises to do better for the remainder of the year. The solar panel maker and project developer is counting on India and North America to become its main markets. Read more »
Solar-panel prices are falling fast, and that is putting enormous pressure on manufacturers to boost their solar gear’s efficiency. First Solar feels the pressure, too, and on Tuesday boasted a world-record solar cell at 17.3 percent efficiency. Read more »
Brace yourself for reports of lackluster sales and profits for solar companies for the second quarter. SunPower did just that Monday by warning that it expects to post a lower gross margin and a loss for the period. Read more »
