Former First Solar CEO and founder Michael Ahearn officially launched his $300 million greentech fund, dubbed True North Venture Partners, on Monday. Greentech entrepreneurs, send them your best pitches! Read more »
Here are our five topics to watch for at one of the largest U.S. solar conferences, Intersolar, in San Francisco this week. Policy — how to survive with more mandates and less money — along with new technology and markets will dominate the discussions. Read more »
First Solar has become the biggest solar beneficiary of a federal renewable energy loan guarantee program. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Energy announced three loan guarantee offerings totaling roughly $3.73 billion for First Solar’s three photovoltaic power plants in California. Read more »
Alta Devices has garnered high-profile investors, but it’s been fairly quiet about the tech it’s developed to bring in those investors. But after chatting with Alta’s CEO, Christopher Norris, we have a lot better idea on its innovation. Here’s the story behind Alta Devices. Read more »
Sempra Generation will join the pantheon of solar power plant developers who’ve gotten government aid. The U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday announced an offer for a $359.1 million loan guarantee to Sempra to build a 150 MW project in Arizona. Read more »
Concentrating solar photovoltaic technology hasn’t always gotten a lot of respect, but it’s getting more attention these days thanks to government aid and a few well-known players and projects. In fact the technology could see 1 GW of power projects installed by 2015. Read more »
Natural gas power plants aren’t usually all that efficient. On Wednesday, GE announced a power plant design that’s more efficient than the standard and also allows plant operators to better manage supply and demand and integrate clean power with natural gas. Read more »
Applied Materials had a blockbuster quarter in its solar business in the most recent quarter, but its dim market outlook points reflects changes that aren’t good for manufacturers but great for project developers. Read more »
Here is another lucky winner of a federal loan guarantee program: The U.S. Department of Energy is offering a conditional loan guarantee of $737 million to SolarReserve for building an 110MW power plant in Nevada, the DOE said Thursday. Read more »
SunPower plans to discuss its first-quarter earnings tomorrow, and it’s likely to repeat the same sentiment expressed by fellow manufactures over the past week: Policy change in Italy, its biggest market, caused a slow start for its sales in 2011. Read more »
Solar project developers typically distinguish themselves, among other things, by technology choices. Those who develop photovoltaic power plants tend to stick with PV. That trend is changing. Solar Trust of America is teaming up with a German company to develop PV power plants. Read more »
It’s one thing for a small percentage of wealthy homes in California and New Jersey to get solar panels. It will be another thing entirely for India, with its 1.19 billion population, to make a substantial commitment to solar power. Read more »
Changes in solar incentives in key markets such as Germany and Italy are making life difficult for major players such as First Solar, which reported a flat first-quarter revenue and lower earnings on Tuesday afternoon. Read more »
A whole lot has changed since we rounded up the solar farms that are planned for the deserts of California and Arizona, from farms changing hands, to the DOE handing out loan guarantees. Here’s 7 of the solar farms that are being built in Southwestern deserts. Read more »
On Tuesday afternoon, California Governor Jerry Brown is widely expected to sign a bill into law which says utilities in the state need to produce 33 percent of their electricity from clean sources by the end of 2020. Read more »
Renewable energy is enjoying a rising profile at the expense of nuclear power. But nuclear power producers and technology developers aren’t necessary the losers there. Some of them have been snapping up solar and wind companies and power plant projects, and the trend will continue. Read more »
General Electric has shown no lack of ambition to be a big player in the solar energy market, but how well it’s doing developing cadmium-telluride (CdTe)-based technology — and become a major CdTe solar panel makers — remains a bit of a mystery Read more »
Developers of copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) solar panels may be finally making that leap to mass production, but they have a lot of catching up to do to be competitive. An NREL expert and Morgan Stanley analyst outlines some of the technical and market challenges. Read more »
Hunting for new markets has become a bigger priority for First Solar, whose executives sounded a cautious note about the market outlook on Thursday and reported declining sales and net income for the fourth quarter. Read more »
Solar companies have seen their stocks riding high so far this year. But that ride wont’ last forever. Here is a list of events and policies that could move the stocks in 2011. Read more »
Californians may see a big jump in their energy bills due to the fact that the state utilities’ clean power projects under contract will be billions of dollars more expensive than what the utilities would otherwise pay for power from natural gas plants. Read more »
While many Silicon Valley thin-film solar companies have finally moved into commercial production, here comes Solar Frontier, a division of Japanese oil refiner Showa Shell, who has leapt over everyone to open a near-gigawatt factory and has drawn customers such as GE. Read more »
Thin film solar company HelioVolt has largely adopted a code of silence for more than a year, but it appears to be emerging from the cocoon. The company has borrowed $8.5 million in debt and begun to tout its technology again. Read more »
CNN founder, and “Mouth of the South,” Ted Turner has officially turned on his jointly-owned, 30-MW, solar farm in New Mexico. Turner and co-owner power company Southern Company Monday said morning that the so-called Cimarron Solar Facility “has begun commercial operation.” Read more »
Greentech marked its best year ever in 2010, and part of that is thanks to the wealth of activity across sectors during the fourth quarter. Global investment in clean energy surged, and while wind power remained the biggest greentech area, solar power saw the fastest growth. The energy efficiency sector appears to have more room for smaller players to make their mark amidst a rapidly maturing market. Meanwhile, China’s stance as a growing greentech giant continued to complicate its relationship with the United States. Companies mentioned in this report include General Electric, Intel, ZigBee, iControl, People Power and EnerNOC. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The DOE has offered a $967 million loan guarantee for the Agua Caliente Solar project, a 290 MW photovoltaic facility that will be built in Yuma County, Arizona, will be developed by NRG Energy and will use First Solar panels. Read more »
First Solar Chairman and former CEO Michael Ahearn is raising a $300 million venture fund, according to an SEC filing. Will the money be going to solar startups, or even cleantech? Read more »
Solar thin films have to be cheap, and that mandate makes it difficult for startups to be profitable. In fact, these alternatives to silicon solar panels are on average 12 percent cheaper, said Paula Mints of Navigant Consulting. Read more »
First Solar’s own power generation projects have always been mounted on racks that don’t tilt throughout the day to follow the sun, but the company is exploring the use of trackers. First Solar announced Friday it has bought RayTracker for an undisclosed sum. Read more »
First Solar’s big plan to eventually build 2 gigawatts of power plants in China’s Inner Mongolia has moved ahead. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with China Guangdong Nuclear Solar Energy Development Co. on Wednesday to develop the first phase, 30-megawatt project. Read more »
Italy, land of pasta and Roman ruins, has also become a booming solar market. SunPower, which previously bought an Italian project developer SunRay to tackle the country, announced Monday it completed 85 MW of projects in Italy in 2010. Read more »
This year has turned out to be a boom year for the solar industry. What will 2011 bring? Here are key trends that can emerge next year, in terms of policies, financing, project development, new markets and technology. Read more »
The greentech industry’s 2010 showing wasn’t so bad, especially for a year that saw the world recovering from a once-in-a-generation economic meltdown. But despite this, venture capitalists won’t be investing in the sector like they used to, solar startups won’t see a great growth year in ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Banks are willing to invest in putting solar panels on rooftops, but not surprisingly, are only willing to back established project developers. The latest example is Rabobank’s $50 million construction loan to SunEdison. Read more »
It’s been a sport for analysts and competitors to speculate when solar panel maker First Solar might no longer be the industry’s low-cost leader. First Solar executives issued their sales forecast and promised the company’s reign won’t end next year. Read more »
Abound Solar is ending the year with glad tidings and good cheer — that is, $110 million in equity and a $400 million federal loan guarantee, almost all of which will fund an ambitious plan to build 775 megawatts of new manufacturing capacity. Read more »
As promised, First Solar will see its solar panels installed in India next year. The company announced Thursday a deal to ship 15 megawatts of its cadmium-telluride panels to ACME Tele Power by March. Read more »
CNN founder, and “Mouth of the South,” Ted Turner said this weekend at the World Climate Summit in Cancun, Mexico, that his jointly owned, 30-MW solar farm in New Mexico is being turned on “right now.” 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 »
Did California regulators move too hastily to approve a series of solar power projects to put massive glass, steel and concrete on thousands of acres of desert land? That question hangs over one such project now that the California Energy Commission has withdrawn its approval. Read more »
