In 2013 cleantech investing will move toward companies serving unsubsidized markets where software plays a role in reducing power consumption. In many ways this is a return to plays for energy efficiency, and there’s still money to be made from business models built around saving energy. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
At the close of the NASDAQ on Thursday evening, SolarCity ended its first day of trading up close to 50 percent, closing at $11.79. Read more »
You can count GigaOM Pro cleantech analyst Adam Lesser in the category that believes that SolarCity pricing at $8 rather than the $13 to $15 the company wanted was a major blessing. A blessing for all of cleantech. Read more »
While we follow how SolarCity’s stock fares on its opening debut at $8 per share, here’s some photos of the company ringing in the opening of the NASDAQ. Read more »
While the $8 per share debut price for SolarCity is well below the expected range of $13 to $15 per share days ago, the IPO is still moving forward, and was only delayed by a day. SolarCity’s stock is expected to start trading on Thursday. Read more »
By 2017, solar modules could cost below 50 cents to produce, says Lux. They are as low as 70 cents per watt now. The cost will drop partly because of manufacturing efficiencies, but also because of the efficiencies of the modules themselves. Read more »
In a new filing SolarCity says it plans to sell 11.5 million shares at $8 per share, well below its previous range of $13 – $15 per share. However the IPO seems to be still moving, and only slipped past its original deadline to price Tuesday night. Read more »
While it’s unclear why SolarCity delayed pricing and going public tomorrow, it could be because it wasn’t able to price its shares in the expected range of $13 to $15 that it wanted. Read more »
![MiaSole_0876[1]](http://earth2tech.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/miasole_08761.jpg?w=210&h=140&crop=1)
The lack of greentech hardware success stories points to a potentially missing piece of the puzzle: a Samsung-style intense focus on manufacturing. Read more »
GlassPoint Solar just raised $26 million in venture capital and built a pilot project to prove that its solar steam equipment could help oil companies pry loose of heavy crude and make it easier to extract. Read more »
If SolarCity does manage to debut in its expected range, it would represent one of the rare venture-backed cleantech IPOs that have emerged over the years. Read more »
After slow sales in Israeli — the first test bed and flagship market — Better Place is laying off hundreds of employees. The company is struggling with losses as it figures out how to make Israelis want to sign up for electric car charging like a cell phone service. Read more »
Selling solar panels and projects into China is notoriously tricky for American solar makers — the market is already flooded with low cost Chinese solar panels, and domestic suppliers seem to carry favor. What’s the answer? Baby steps: joint ventures and pilots seem like the way to go. Read more »
A Serbian startup called Strawberry Energy has a new design for its solar powered public chargers and recently installed its eighth “Strawberry Tree” in Serbia. In the wake of the Sandy-induced power crunch, I’d love to see some of these in a public areas in cities in the U.S. Read more »
MIT researchers are looking to make more efficient solar cells by creating a funnel-like structure in a semiconductor material in order to make use of a broader spectrum of sunlight. Read more »
The latest in cleantech from GigaOM Pro this week: advanced battery technologies, the fate of clean energy post election, and should the U.S. aggressively export natural gas? Read more »
India has emerged as as a potentially huge market for solar energy development. It also is experiencing the growing pains of cultivating a new type of energy development that relies heavily on government help and faces unforeseen challenges. Read more »
A year ago, we took the solar plunge and installed 41 panels on our back roof. How much did it cost; what’s the benefit; would I do it again? Read on for the answers to these questions and more because there’s little I’d do differently. Read more »
The power outages caused by Hurricane Sandy on the east coast highlight the needs for a much greater investment in smart grid technology, energy storage systems, clean power, and ultimately a move to a more decentralized power grid architecture. Read more »
Solar startup Alta Devices, which makes thin film solar cells and is backed by Silicon Valley venture capitalists, says it plans to make a fast-charging solar iPad cover by the end of 2013. Read more »
The leading solar thermal developer BrightSource has raised a massive round of $80 million in private equity. It’s a rare move these days that a cleantech startup can raise that much money, but BrightSource has diligently been scaling up Ivanpah, its inaugural farm near Las Vegas. Read more »
The market for grid-scale advanced batteries is forecasted to reflect nearly $30 billion in investment through 2020. Tapping into this potential depends on the technical and market-focused innovations of a small industry ecosystem, one that faces considerable challenges in R&D and funding. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Do data centers that run on clean power seem like pipe dreams? Not when companies hit the massive scales of webscale computing. Execs creating business models from green data centers say that it’s the large size of the projects that makes clean power attractive. Read more »
This quarter Tesla’s production schedule came under fire, and share economy leaders Airbnb raised cash while Zipcar struggled with its membership model. Meanwhile the Indian power outage in July prompted questions about how the developing economy will power itself. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
SolarCity publicly disclosed its documents for its planned IPO on Friday, giving us a look at some of its risk factors. Those include that the company is being investigated by the Inspector General about the Treasury Grant program. Read more »
China’s clean energy strategy is in “disarray” due to an oversupply of solar panels and a price war. That means there’s massive consolidation coming. Read more »
The U.S. government is close to finalize its rulings on a trade complaint against Chinese solar manufactures. So far, what many thought would be the fall outs from the trade complaint haven’t materialized. Read more »
Shortly after SoloPower announced it has started up its first commercial scale factory in Portland, Oregon, the thin film solar startup also more quietly filed a statement saying it has raised $12 million in debt. Read more »
IKEA says it will only sell LED lighting by 2016, and will give up all other less efficient forms of lighting. The news follows IKEA phasing out incandescent lighting, getting rid of plastic bags, and putting solar panels on its rooftops. Read more »
Renewable energy proponents haven’t always considered the natural gas industry an ally. But a natural gas lobby hopes to change that by pitching an idea that it says will benefit both sides. Read more »
Electric car maker Tesla has quietly built out solar-powered rapid electric car chargers at six locations around California and has plans to install many more next year. The tech, which uses a solar system from SolarCity, will be offered for free for Model S owners. Read more »
Solar startup Semprius says it will open its first factory in North Carolina next week. The company makes solar modules for solar concentrating systems, which use mirrors to focus light onto solar cells. Other startups that make this type of technology have struggled in recent months. Read more »
Here’s ABB’s side of the story, explaining why it decided to pull out of its investment with solar startup GreenVolts: the uncertainty in the solar panel market. Read more »
A TV station in North Carolina snapped these still video clips of the solar farm being built next to Apple’s data center. It looks like it’s getting close to being completed. Read more »
Solar startup GreenVolts says it has laid off more than 60 of its 80 person staff, as a result of investor ABB removing its support. A small staff remains at GreenVolts to offer customer support of its systems and to look to sell itself or assets. Read more »
Solar panel power projects in the U.S. are a bright spot for the solar sector, in a difficult year for solar manufacturing. Read more »
Amid a solar market with an oversupply of solar panels, Silevo, a California company with a factory in China, is working on expanding its production and convincing customers that its novel hybrid silicon technology is worth their investments. Read more »
An underwater swimming solar robot FTW! Courtesy of AeroVironment. Read more »
First Solar is looking to double down on building solar projects, not just be a panel supplier, in India in the wake of the wide sweeping grid blackouts of the Summer. Read more »
The more sunlight a solar cell can convert into electricity, the cheaper the solar power. Companies like IBM are turning to new materials to try to break efficiency barriers for solar cells. Read more »
