SoloPower looking more and more like Solyndra
The similarities between Solyndra and SoloPower are getting closer and closer. Read more »
13 solar startups to watch in 2013
Solar makers are getting squeezed in a difficult global solar market, but the growth of solar panel installations continues to soar. This should all make 2013 a very interesting year for solar startups. Here’s 13 solar startups to watch in 2013: Read more »
As SoloPower starts up factory, quietly raises $12M
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 »
China’s Hanergy to buy solar startup Miasole in fire sale
After making a public appeal for investors, MiaSole has found a suitor in Hanergy, a large renewable energy company in China that just bought another solar equipment maker in Germany. The $30M sales prices of MiaSole shows how cheap solar manufacturing assets can be picked up. Read more »
Solar startup SoloPower aims to do what Solyndra couldn’t
Silicon Valley solar startup, SoloPower, is turning on its first large-scale factory in Oregon at a time when many solar manufacturers have crashed and burned. The factory will pave the way for the company to use a $197 million federal loan guarantee to expand its factory. Read more »
Photos: Next-gen solar tech at Intersolar
One of the largest solar conferences in the U.S., Intersolar, kicked off on Tuesday in downtown San Francisco, and is expected to draw around 22,000 attendees in the solar and power sectors this week. Here’s photos of the latest solar gear shown across two floors. Read more »
PHOTOS: Next-gen solar, robots and patriotic marketing
The inaugural PV America West solar trade show, which took place in San Jose amid a big trade dispute involving Chinese manufacturers, offered novel solar equipment designs and robotic technology as well as an interesting mix of marketing and politics. Read more »
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After Solyndra: analyzing the solar industry
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 »
Another changing of the guard for solar startup Nanosolar
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 »
SoloPower continues to amass funds for solar factory
Thin film solar startup SoloPower continues to fund-raise, amid a difficult market for next-gen solar manufacturers. According to a filing, SoloPower has just raised $20 million in debt and options that will help provide fuel for the company’s factory to mass-produce its solar panels. Read more »
10 things you should know about the DOE loan guarantee program
As a result of the bankruptcies of Solyndra and Beacon Power, the Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee Program is now under heavy scrutiny. But a new Bloomberg report digs into the numbers and finds the program is a lot more successful than it has seemed. Read more »
When good tech ideas go bad
Sometimes tech trends end up disrupting huge industries, like when the idea of Skype and free web calls, collided with the phone companies. However, sometimes tech ideas have all the makings of these kind of disruptions but ultimately end up flaming out. Here’s why: Read more »
SoloPower shoots for another $44M for thin film solar
SoloPower, which has gotten a federal loan guarantee offer to build a solar panel factory in Oregon, is now aiming for a close to $44 million equity round and has so far lined up about $15 million, according to a filing Wednesday. Read more »
The Re-Invention of Intel-Backed Solar Company Sulfurcell
After 10 years of technology development and lining up investors including Intel, solar thin film company Sulfurcell has retooled its business plan that includes a name change, a technology shift and a focus beyond selling solar panels, company executives said Thursday. Read more »
MiaSole Turns to Intel for Manufacturing Tips
Intel is known for its ability to roll out chips speedily in giant factories. Can that knowledge help a solar startup? MiaSole announced Tuesday that it has enlisted the chip giant to help the company scale up its thin-film solar production. Read more »
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Green IT Q1: Cleantech Breaking Out — and Bracing for Hard Times
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 »
Next-Gen Thin Film Solar Players: Where Are They Now?
![MiaSole_0876[1]](http://gigaom2.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/miasole_08761-e1285007255128.jpg?w=210&h=140&crop=1)
2011 will be a make or break year for many of the next-generation of thin film solar startups that are using the material copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) to make solar cells. Close to a dozen companies are aiming to either ramp up, or move into, production. Read more »
DOE Loan Guarantees for Solar Keep Comin’, Now SoloPower
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 »
Solar Tech: Still A Magnet for VCs
Venture capital investors continue their big love for solar, and despite a collective vow to be less irrationally exuberant about the sector, investors still are willing to hand out hefty amounts for buzzy startups. Read more »
Solar Startup Funding: SoloPower Raises $51M
Looks like investors aren’t done pumping money into solar gear startups, despite some missteps in 2010. According to a filing, thin-film solar panel maker SoloPower has raised $51.58 million in equity and security. Read more »
The Walmart Effect on Thin Film Solar
When Walmart decides to invest in emerging green technologies it offers considerable validation. That’s certainly the intention behind Walmart’s announcement that it will pay for solar electricity from installations that use thin film solar panels from MiaSole and First Solar and are installed by SolarCity. Read more »
Flexible Solar Panels Are Here, Any Takers?
After years of talking about flexible, light-weight solar thin film material that can drape over roofs, manufacturers are finally starting to deliver. SoloPower is announcing on Tuesday that its first flexible solar panel has gotten UL certification, which is required for installation in many U.S. regions. Read more »
SoloPower Raises $45M, Payday for Founders
SoloPower, a San Jose, Calif.-based thin-film solar startup working on copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) cells and panels, has raised nearly $45 million in debt financing, according to a regulatory filing. About $19.9 million of that amount will be paid to co-founders Bulent Basol and Homayoun Talieh, in what […] Read more »
Q&A: Crosslink Capital's Alain Harrus on Solar Investing in Tough Times
Four-year-old thin-film solar startup SoloPower has so far kept a low profile, with only four press releases posted on its site since 2007 and none before then. But earlier this month, the San Jose, Calif.-based company said it was applying for a $190 million loan guarantee […] Read more »
Thin Film Solar Startup SoloPower CEO Replaced With Investor
Thin-film startup SoloPower announced today that CEO Homayoun Talieh has left his position, though he will remain on the company’s board of directors. The announcement came two months after Vice President of Research Rommel Noufi — whose hire SoloPower bragged about last year — exited the […] Read more »
