Solyndra’s bankruptcy is the worst outcome possible for a company that the DOE has touted as a game-changer and which received an unusual amount of government support and attention. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the nail in the coffin for the loan guarantee program. Read more »
Nevada will be home to the “world’s first” hybrid solar, geothermal plant. The new combined 24 MW project was announced during a press conference by Senator Harry Reid and Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu at an energy summit on Tuesday in Las Vegas. Read more »
As the digital world and connected devices take over more and more aspects of people’s lives large Internet companies are becoming more and more conscious of the need to invest in clean power and alternative resources. ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
If you buy an electric car will you be more likely to buy solar panels? That’s SunPower and Ford are hoping, and have launched a new initiative to bundle a deal for a Ford Focus Electric vehicle and a SunPower solar rooftop system. Read more »
Solar project developer BrightSource Energy isn’t close to completing it first solar power plant, but it’s already getting the ball rolling on its second project, which will use a taller tower and is a more efficient use of the land. Read more »
The summer of 2011 has (arguably) produced a bubble around social media, with valuations for social media companies soaring. Will any of that social magic rub off on consumer-facing clean-power and energy-efficiency technologies, like electric cars, solar panels or home energy management systems? Read more »
After investing in batteries, wireless tech, and electric car innovation, the venture arm of GM is now turning to solar car ports. On Thursday GM Ventures announced that it has invested $7.5 million into Sunlogics, a company that makes canopies covered in solar panels. Read more »
Is the answer to helping integrate solar and wind into the power grid the humble home hot water heater? That’s one of the things that startup GridMobility is looking to find out. Read more »
The second quarter brought a slew of greentech developments: We saw near-record investment in utility-scale clean energy projects but falling valuations for clean-energy stocks; big investments in solar thermal projects but struggling markets for solar photovoltaic systems; and rising private equity green investment while green VC took ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
A startup offering Groupon-style group discounts for solar panel roof installations is now looking to connect with potential solar customers nationwide. Read more »
Intersolar is one of the largest solar conference in the U.S. and is being held in San Francisco this week. Here’s 25 photos I snapped at the event while wandering around the show floors. Read more »
Electronics that can break out of their rigid boxes, and be embedded into stretchy, even wearable, materials — that’s the goal of startup mc10, which packages up semiconductors, like silicon, so they can bend, twist and wrap around other structures. Read more »
Cleantech investing may not have produced many big exits and returns so far, yet it keeps attracting investors who believe they can do better. Here comes the Cleantech Syndicate, a group of 11 families that plan to invest $1.4 billion over the next five years. Read more »
Google has emerged as one of the most aggressive clean power investors in 2011, and has now invested over $780 million into clean power projects and technologies. The latest funding is another $102 million into a wind farm being built in Southern California’s Mojave Desert. Read more »
Power gear giant Siemens has bought a stake in startup Semprius that makes solar concentrating photovoltaic tech, which use mirrors and lenses to concentrate sunlight onto highly efficient solar cells. Solar concentrating PV is a sort of hybrid between solar panels and solar thermal tech. Read more »
The Department of Energy has awarded so many loan guarantees to solar companies this week, it’s getting difficult to keep track. The latest, announced Friday, is a $150 million loan guarantee to 1366 Technologies, a startup that innovates around silicon wafer production. Read more »
Enphase Energy, which makes small distributed microinverters for solar panels, filed an S-1 yesterday for a $100 million IPO. Here’s the breakdown of how much Enphase is earning, spending, and shipping, and who will win out in the public debut. Read more »
Adding more clean power to the grid will require utilities to redesign the network that transports solar electricity locally. Southern California Edison on Monday laid out its plan to make its distribution grid more responsive to the fluctuating infusion of solar electricity throughout the day. Read more »
On Friday BrightSource Energy received approval from the Bureau of Land Management to restart the part of its Ivanpah Solar power plant project that was suspended in April of this year in order to reassess the project’s impact on desert tortoises. Read more »
California regulators on Thursday approved changes to residential electric rates for customers of Pacific Gas and Electric that could have a major impact on whether consumers will readily sign up for solar and energy efficiency products and services. 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 »
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 »
In honor of Earth Day, I’ve been testing a couple of solar chargers from Scosche and Choice Solar. The good news is that charger prices have dropped significantly. But their capabilities vary, so it’s important to select one that meets your needs. Read more »
Facebook didn’t exactly meet Greenpeace’s Earth Day challenge, which called for the social network giant to pledge to cut out coal as an energy source for its data centers. But Facebook did respond in a letter, in which the company said it would do more. Read more »
Does a solar electric system add to the sales value of a home? The Berkeley Lawrence National Laboratory decided to answer this question, and the result is a report being issued Thursday that showed that, indeed, solar homes command higher prices. Read more »
Is the greentech industry headed for a breakout year or is it retrenching for hard times to come? The first three months of 2011 provided evidence that could support both assertions, with a big rise in venture capital investment and a big drop-off in global energy financing. Solar power remained the largest green technology sector in terms of venture capital investment, while in the world of electric vehicles, GM’s Chevy Volt hybrid and Nissan’s all-electric Leaf — the first two mainstream plug-in vehicles — hit the showroom floors in significant numbers. Meanwhile the smart grid sector’s relative dearth of VC investment was more than made up for by the massive round of acquisitions. Companies mentioned in this report include NRG Energy, Microsoft, Silver Spring Networks, Tesla and BrightSource Energy. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Greenpeace has hit a new record with its Facebook “unfriend coal” campaign: a Guinness World Record for how many comments a single Facebook post has received in a 24-hour period. Greenpeace will also unveil a report on clean power and the cloud at Green:Net 2011. Read more »
It was a union of sorts between federal, state and industry initiatives, culminating in a day that will be remembered in solar power history. DOE Chief Steven Chu, California Governor Jerry Brown and SunPower executives announced a series of key solar projects. Here’s my photos: 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 »
A rooftop at Santa Clara University is now home to a next-generation solar technology. Specifically the university has commissioned a solar concentrating photovoltaic project — which uses both mirrors to concentrate sunlight and also solar cells — from startup Chromasun. 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 »
Looks like Google’s wind power investments last year aren’t its last clean energy bets. On Thursday afternoon Google announced that it will invest €3.5 million ($5 million USD) into a solar photovoltaic farm in Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany, which is near Berlin. Read more »
The mystery’s over. GE apparently is serious about building a thin film solar business and the New York Times is reporting that GE plans to announce on Thursday that it will build a factory to produce 400 MW worth of thin film solar panels per year. Read more »
Will your local utility one day go the way of dinosaurs? As more home and business owners install solar panels, wind turbines and other electricity and heat generating equipment, the roles of the utilities will change and new business opportunities will rise. Read more »
A quick scan of the top cleantech deals for the near record first quarter, sent cold shivers up my spine. The deals may be getting done, but are we sure investors are making money? Three of the biggest deals represented 17 percent of the quarter’s dollars. Read more »
A solar farm using concentrating solar photovoltaic technology, which combines mirrors and solar PV cells, was just completed in Hanford, Calif. at the Nichols Farms. It’s a 1 MW solar project, using technology from SolFocus, and built by Bechtel. Check out the photos: Read more »
What would lead a company to walk away from negotiations for a coveted federal loan guarantee, as solar company Suniva did recently? It has to do with the terms of the government deals, the time it takes to obtain one, and the recovery of private markets. Read more »
Solar equipment installers and manufacturers have pointed out for some time now the hassles of dealing with disparate permitting rules and costs from one city or county to the next. A new report highlights this challenge in Colorado, where a bill is pending to cap fees. Read more »
Enphase Energy has made a name for itself as a trailblazer of the microinverter market. But keeping that lead won’t be easy, and the company is launching a series of new products that are smaller and lighter and more tailored for different customer types. 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 »
