Quantum dots, a Ghostbuster backpack & the future of solar technology
Spray on solar cells
Sometimes, it just takes a Google search to overcome a big technical hurdle in a lab. OK, so it didn’t quite happen…
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Sometimes, it just takes a Google search to overcome a big technical hurdle in a lab. OK, so it didn’t quite happen…
The similarities between Solyndra and SoloPower are getting closer and closer.
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:
An outlier appeared this week that seemed more consistent with 2006, rather than 2012. A group of high-profile venture capitalists put a large round into a potentially capital intensive next-gen energy technology, showing there’s still room for some of these big energy ideas to be funded.
As Obama is projected to have won the Presidential election, clean energy and cleantech supporters cheer and hope for four more years of support for the development of next-gen energy technologies.
If the world wants solutions to its most intractable problems — getting enough food, water and fuel for 9 billion people, for example — entrepreneurs must be able to try out big ideas. And fail sometimes.
Solyndra not surprisingly got a mention in the first Presidential debates on Wednesday night as a symbol of misplaced spending. But another cleantech company surprisingly got lumped into the mix, too: Tesla. My thoughts: Tesla is no Solyndra.
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.
Tesla’s Model S represents a new chapter for the Silicon Valley–born, venture capital–backed company and a new hope for the mainstream adoption of electric vehicles. In a recent survey we asked GigaOM readers to weigh in on the future of both Tesla and what the fate of its new vehicle means for the future of the entire EV industry. The results are collected and analyzed here.
Solar companies worldwide will remember 2011 as a dark time in their history; the failing of Solyndra symbolizes that market volatility, and 2012 no doubt started with trepidation, writes Ucilia Wang in a comprehensive report on the solar industry in 2012 for GigaOM Pro.
In a followup to my previous post on electric car maker Aptera shutting its doors, I’ve confirmed with the Department of Energy that it did NOT give Aptera a conditional commitment for a loan of $150 million.
Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu testified before the House Energy Commerce Committee on Thursday morning and said there was no wrong doing involved with the loan guarantees given to now-bankrupt solar maker Solyndra.
The Solyndra circus keeps on going and House Republicans are touting some juicy emails about meetings between Solyndra investors and the White…
Solar thin-film startup HelioVolt has lined up Korean conglomerate SK Group as an equity investor as it tries to scale up and move into mass production. SK announced Monday that it’s made an equity investment of $50 million in HelioVolt.
Solar company JinkoSolar faced a huge, four-day protest against its toxic waste dumping practices at its factory in China over the weekend, during the same time when the company announced its sponsorship of the San Francisco 49ers.
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.
The sale season is on for solar. SpectraWatt, which filed for bankruptcy last month, plans to hold a live auction of its silicon solar factory equipment on Sept. 28. Others will follow.
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.
The thin film solar firm that’s raised close to a billion dollars is raising still more. Solyndra has closed $75 million in a credit facility from existing investors, and will use the funds for its manufacturing ramp up and to help reduce its manufacturing costs.
Thin film solar firm Solyndra might have had its share of problems throughout 2010, but here’s a seriously cool application for its tube-shaped solar panels: greenhouses.
Solar company Solyndra, which has been on a roller coaster ride of funding and political attention over the past two years, is now slowly ramping up production at its new factory. Will it survive, meet expectations and one day turn into a solar powerhouse?
Despite some of the trials and tribulations of thin film solar firm Solyndra, we’ve been curious to get a look at how they make the tubular panels. Solyndra just released this video, which shows some of the key steps.
The stimulus package has been one of the largest injections of government funds into green tech in U.S. history. But along with the benefits that tens of billions of dollars brings — energy innovation, green jobs — there are also some very real dangers.
In the midst of recent turmoil at solar panel maker Solyndra, including swapping out its CEO and shelving its IPO plans, the VC-backed startup has some good news: a deal to sell 18 rooftop solar systems, (16.2 MW), to utility Southern California Edison (SCE).
Solyndra, the solar startup that ditched its IPO dreams last month, is now swapping out its CEO. Brian Harrison, the former President and CEO of flash memory maker Numonyx, B.V, has replaced founding CEO Chris Gronet as Solyndra’s new CEO.
While thin film solar startup Solyndra teed up an IPO, and then had to ditch it earlier this month, other thin film solar firms are still solidly stuck in neutral. Everyone’s still waiting for the announcement from HelioVolt to say that it has moved into commercial production
Like two mismatched bookends, Tesla and Solyndra mark this week with one positive and one negative impression of how well early stage, unprofitable, risky greentech firms will fare on the public markets this year.
For Solyndra, looks like going public isn’t such a good plan after all. The solar company says tonight it has opted to raise $175 million by selling convertible promissory notes from existing investors instead of doing an IPO.
Solar tube maker, and Department of Energy-darling, Solyndra is showing off its largest installation in the U.S., on the rooftop of packaging company LPS Industries. The 704 kW system, which includes 3,800 Solyndra solar panels, is in Moonachie, New Jersey, and was installed in 4 weeks.
President Obama stopped by the factory of thin film solar startup Solyndra Wednesday morning in Fremont, Calif., to give a speech touting how investments from the stimulus package have been creating green jobs, and said he would fight to pass climate change legislation this year.
Solyndra’s revenue ramp up last year was pretty mind boggling — the thin film solar maker went from generating $6 million in…
Solyndra, the thin film solar startup that filed for an IPO back in December has updated its latest financial figures for the…
One more look back at 2009 — the $371 million IPO of lithium battery maker A123Systems (s AONE) back in late September,…
One of the most interesting parts about a startup registering for an IPO is that the company has to file an S-1…
Whoa! The next big cleantech IPO following A123System’s (s AONE) recent public offering, has just been announced. Thin film solar company Solyndra…
At the ground-breaking of solar startup Solyndra’s second factory this morning, the company, which makes tube-shaped thin-film solar panels, detailed just how…
Update: As we predicted Solyndra is building a factory in Fremont and using the now-finalized loan guarantee to fund the factory. Check…
We knew we were in for a battle royale between Palm (s palm) and Apple (s aapl) over the iTunes syncing built…
The contracts keep coming for Solyndra, the Fremont, Calif.-based manufacturer of thin-film solar tubes. The startup announced today that it has signed…
Solyndra, a startup which just came out of the woodwork with its rooftop solar system and $600 million in funding, showed off…