Here is another obit of a solar startup: Abound Solar, a thin film startup which secured a $400 million federal loan guarantee to expand production, is shutting down and filing for bankruptcy, the DOE said Thursday. Read more »
There is no escaping the dark spell cast by Solyndra’s bankruptcy in cleantech discussions these days. At two cleantech conferences in San Francisco this week, speakers gave their takes on the impact of the Solyndra controversy, from money flows to public perception. Read more »
Is the clean power industry not doing enough to win political support in the nation’s capital? While Solyndra has gotten flack for its significant lobbying efforts, the reality is that the industry should do more, not less. 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 »
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 »
Does the Chinese government want to be a cleantech VC? That seems to be the case as the government announced a plan to invest directly or through venture capital funds in startups that are developing technologies including alternative energy and cars. Read more »
Solyndra’s woes continue. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is searching Solyndra’s headquarters this morning, though it declined to say what it’s looking for. Read more »
Solar silicon and cell maker Calisolar has ditched a $275 million federal loan guarantee to build a factory in Ohio, but the company still has a manufacturing plan. It says it has secured a $75.25 million package from Mississippi to locate its factory there. Read more »
Solyndra just became a high-profile casualty of the youthful solar industry as Solyndra failed to compete successfully against larger solar rivals in a global market that depends heavily on government subsidies. Here’s what went wrong. Read more »
After getting a $535 million federal loan guarantee for building a factory, solar thin-film startup Solyndra is going out of business. Solyndra has also raised close to a billion dollars in equity and loans and said it will file Chapter 11. Read more »
Freshly minted as a public company, biofuel producer KiOR reported Thursday that it brought in no revenues and widened its losses for the second quarter. It also faced questions about raising money for a processing plant when the economy is still struggling. 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 »
Federal lawmakers held a hearing Friday to examine a federal agency’s role in approving renewable energy loan guarantees, particularly the $535 guarantee that went to solar panel maker Solyndra. Read more »
The U.S. government is throwing its weight behind geothermal power this week, announcing a $350 million loan guarantee to fund a geothermal power project in Nevada, and $70 million in support for technologies that speed up geothermal energy generation across the country. Read more »
A large solar power panel farm is set to rise near Las Vegas, Nevada with the help of a federal loan guarantee program. The DOE on Thursday announced a $45.6M conditional loan guarantee offer to Fotowatio Renewable Ventures to build a 20 MW solar project. Read more »
Solyndra’s factory is now set to produce 200 MW of its tube-shaped solar panels annually, and the company hopes to boost that to 300 MW by 2013. Ramping that up will take another round of funding. Here are my photos of the factory tour: Read more »
At a packed room at a solar factory, Department of Energy Chief Steven Chu announced that the DOE has awarded a conditional commitment for a $1.2 billion loan guarantee to a solar farm that will be built by SunPower and owned by power company NRG Energy. Read more »
Every week now. it seems like the DOE has offered up a new loan guarantee for clean power. On Thursday, the lucky winner was thin-film solar panel maker SoloPower, with a $197 million conditional loan guarantee to expand its thin-film solar panel plant in Oregon. Read more »
Following on the heels of the Obama administration’s plan to streamline the DOE’s loan guarantee program, the DOE has given final approval to its largest clean power loan guarantee to date: a $1.45 billion guarantee for a solar thermal project in Arizona built by Abengoa Solar. Read more »
Can the stimulus money really help to drive down the price of solar electricity by half in the next five years? Yes, according to a White House report on Tuesday touting the impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. But think again. Read more »
