A Swedish startup has developed a new technology that it says can boost the efficiency of standard solar panels at a minimal cost using nanowires. Is this the great bright hope for solar manufacturers who have been crippled by the difficult solar market in 2013? Read more »
Financing the emerging boom of solar rooftops is an area where startups increasingly are doing well. OneRoof Energy, a startup launched just in 2011, has raised another round of equity from Korean giant Hanwha to grow its solar panel financing and sales business. Read more »
After a year of using 41 solar panels on our home, we generated more excess electricity than expected. So this past weekend, we drove a 2013 Chevy Volt of the lot and our first impressions are pretty positive, both for the technology and the efficiency. Read more »
Solar panels have been described as commodities, but are they? A solar project investor says that is not quite true given the uneven quality of solar panels he has seen. And that begs the question: is solar really a low-risk investment? Read more »
Water is undeniably important to our physical survival, and energy is the main physical ingredient in our development of modern society. Shortages in either could have major impacts. Read more »
There is still not a solar panel capable of displacing electricity from fossil fuels. Disruption calls for smart innovation; several companies are ready for the challenge. The clear winner will be the solar-energy player that breaks new records in solar efficiency without the breaking the bank. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Five key technology sectors are enabling the smart city: smart grids, smart transport, smart water and waste management, smart building systems, and the enabling ICT platforms for the smart city. Key players like IT companies, telcos and utilities must learn how to harness those technologies, and quickly. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The future of fresh fruit and vegetables could be disrupted by a new business model of distributed growing and no up front fee “produce purchase agreements.” You know, like a solar PPA with a foodie twist. Read more »
A 1 GW solar farm in California whose fate was in limbo for a while is finally moving forward: Solar Millennium has sold it to Solarhybrid, which will change the technology for the project from concentrating solar thermal to photovoltaic panels. Read more »
The solar industry has begun 2012 with some trepidation, with many on the warpath to cut costs and reduce output. These moves give the market a chance to reduce inventories and get production more in sync with demand. But recovery will likely come slowly. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The failure rate of developers to fulfill their renewable energy contract in California has historically been around 30-40 percent, but that failure rate is expected to come down now that utilities are seeing better prepared and managed projects — and more developers who are in the game. Read more »
Markus Beck, the former head of First Solar’s now shuttered next-gen solar tech project, is looking to keep his dream alive and develop a new process to make thin film solar panels. Given the state of the market, it could be a tough play. Read more »
Both job creation and layoffs are particularly sensitive topics during a weak economy, let alone an election year, so the big layoff at Amonix’s solar factory in Nevada raises questions about the health of the Kleiner Perkins-backed company and its promise to bring many jobs Read more »
A trade complaint filed against Chinese solar makers, accusing them of benefiting from illegal subsidies, has drawn a line in the sand for the U.S. solar industry. Now the Commerce Department has issued a finding that tilts the case in favor of the petitioner, SolarWorld. Read more »
Professor Tom Murphy dives into ocean power and looks at how abundant it is, yet potentially useless in the short term. Read more »
Nanosolar, which has struggled for years to fulfill its promise as the next major thin-film solar manufacturer, announced Thursday it has a new CEO. Eugenia Corrales, who has been the startup’s head of engineering and operations, is taking over the chief executive post effective immediately. Read more »
The turning of the new year didn’t make the solar industry any easier for solar manufacturers. Power electronics maker, Satcon Technology, announced Wednesday that it’s laying off 35 percent of its workers and shutting down its factory in Canada. Read more »
Companies continue to bow out of the solar market in 2011. This week it’s BP Solar, which is shutting down, as well as Solar Mlillennium, which has filed for insolvency. Last week it was German solar panel company Solon, which also filed for insolvency. 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
Connectivity changes everything. That’s the credo driving just about every corner of our day-to-day lives. As human beings, we are now connected to one another through not just our social networks but also our cars, the books we read, the albums we download and even our own health and wellness habits (to name just a few areas). With that in mind, GigaOM Pro has singled out certain areas in the technology industry where we see this shift to constant connectivity taking place most drastically. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Paring solar with data centers may not be a novel idea, but you will have a hard time finding companies that rely solely on solar electricity to power their servers. But what if the use of solar could help data center owners save energy? Read more »
It’s been over a month since the Solyndra news came out, but it’s still dominating. Because it just won’t go away, here’s my top five list of projects that the DOE also backed with loan guarantees and that are showing some early signs of success. Read more »
My organization, The Carbon War Room, has put together a consortium to tackle, as was reported this week: “one of the nation’s biggest energy problems — waste in older buildings — without new money from Washington.” Read more »
If Apple launched one of its gadgets with embedded solar cells, it could revolutionize the market for solar. 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 »
As energy use by the U.S. military grows — the Department of Defense (DoD) uses 300,000 barrels of oil every day — the conversation about how the military can consume cleaner power continues to grow, too. One potentially good fit could be concentrating solar photovoltaic technology. Read more »
This week Solyndra announced plans to file for bankruptcy and said it will lay off 1,100 employees. How will the event impact the larger cleantech industry, greentech startup funding and the solar sector as a whole? We ask you to weigh in. Read more »
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 »
More solar panels are sprouting from the rooftops these days, along with an increasing number of equipment models and installers. Yet there is no good consumer guide to help people compare shop and avoid scams. The time has come to create one. Read more »
Startup EnFocus Engineering’s technology replaces an ordinary skylight with a high-tech version that features solar cells and optics to manage the light that flows into a room. The company will be installing a prototype system at Google. Read more »
DuPont announced on Monday that it has bought Innovalight, a Silicon Valley startup that makes silicon ink that solar-cell makers can use to improve the amount of electricity that the cells can squeeze out of sunlight. DuPont declined to disclose the purchase price. Read more »
California regulators have approved a program, called virtual net metering, for residents who until now have been underserved by the state’s popular solar incentive program. Read more »
Germany has sprinted ahead of the U.S. when it comes to embracing clean energy and becoming the world’s largest solar market. That means Germany has learned some lessons that the U.S. could benefit from, including ways to drive down the cost of solar electricity fast. Read more »
Japan’s massive earthquake, tsunami, and now nuclear disaster, is starting to shine a spotlight on just how important the country is in terms of clean energy technology, from solar to electric cars. Read more »
American manufacturers, project developers and policy makers have always had a keen interest in feed-in tariffs, which guarantee premium rates for renewable electricity. The U.K. indicated Monday that it will likely cut the pricing for large-scale solar projects because it wants to promote smaller, rooftop installations. Read more »
UPDATED: Wyclef Jean, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews and Justin Timberlake are just a few of music stars that will take part in tonight’s Hope For Haiti Now benefit concert, starting at 5 p.m. PST and 8 p.m. […] Read more »
A new report published this week by the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab offers valuable insight culled from a decade’s worth of data into perhaps the most important metric in the PV industry: installed system costs before financial incentives. Because these incentives, like government tax rebates, can’t […] Read more »
Stealthy solar startup SkyWatch Energy is in the process of raising $3.2 million in its first round of equity financing, according to a Securities and Exchanges Commission filing in June. Khosla Ventures this week divulged it invested in the company as a side note to an […] Read more »
SolarCity, a solar installer and financier based in Foster City, Calif., has installed one of the country’s first thin-film solar projects on a residential roof. The company installed 2.4 kilowatts worth of First Solar cadmium-telluride panels on a home in San Mateo, Calif., last week, SolarCity’s […] Read more »
