Frickin' laser beams will power Sungevity's new instant quote service.…
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Why Steve Jobs would hate the solar market
Will solar ever be as easy as buying a TV? Well, no. But it can get a whole lot easier.…
Read MoreSolarCity to spend $120M on direct marketing company
A direct marketing company majority-owned by Guthy-Renker -- the Proactiv infomercial folks -- is being acquired by solar panel installer SolarCity. It's time for solar panels to enter the modern marketing age.…
Read MoreWhy your utility could go the way of Kodak, Blockbuster — totally disrupted
Down the road, the utility sector could be totally fracked (power joke) if they don't embrace and enable new cleaner, distributed, and digitally-managed technologies for the grid.…
Read MoreWhat SolarCity’s earnings say about the challenges of building a solar retail business
SolarCity is one of the leaders when it comes to installing solar panels on home owner's rooftops. But the company's $31 million loss, in its latest quarter, shows the growing pains for the retail solar players.…
Read MoreSolar financing startup Clean Power Finance raises $37M from Google Ventures, Kleiner
Solar financier Clean Power Finance has raised a large round of $37 million from Valley investors Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures and Claremont Creek. Solar financing and installations are one of the bright spots in the solar sector.…
Read MoreWill NRG Energy be the next ten ton gorilla in solar leases?
If NRG Energy starts offering solar leasing options to home owners and small businesses, it would represent the mainstreaming of solar roofs and also likely disrupt the current sector filled with a variety of smaller players.…
Read MoreSolar as a service dominated the solar roofs built last year in California
Solar-as-a-service is dominating the market for home solar panel systems and the companies that pioneered these financing models are now seeing the pay back for those early moves.…
Read MoreOneRoof Energy raises $30M from Korea’s Hanwha for solar financing
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 MoreSolar panel rooftop startup Sungevity raises a whopping $125 million
Following the IPO of solar installer SolarCity last month, Sungevity announced that it's raised $125 million in a combo of equity and project financing. The company does sales, marketing, system design, and financing for home solar panel systems, which saw a boom year in 2012.…
Read More10 things to be thankful for this year in cleantech
Despite the difficult year in cleantech, there's quite a few things that excited me this year. Here's 10 things to be thankful for in cleantech.…
Read MoreSolar software hackathon to kick off this weekend
There's been a series of Cleanweb Hackathons in recent months, where developers spend a weekend building web and mobile apps out of energy, water and sustainability data. But here's a new one with a twist: a solar-focused Cleanweb Hackathon, coordinated by solar web startup Sungevity.…
Read More6 ways software rules the clean power economy
Software tools are becoming more important --and attracting more investments -- with the greater use of clean power gear, from solar and wind devices to batteries for energy storage. Here's a look at 6 software opportunities, from energy forecasts to performance monitoring to marketing and sales.…
Read MoreSunrun raises $60M for residential solar service
Investors may not be so keen to put money into solar manufacturing these days, but they are pumping quite a bit of money into the solar retail sector. Sunrun is benefitting from this investor sentiment and announced Wednesday that it’s raised a $60 million in equity.…
Read MoreWhy consumers shouldn’t worry about the new solar tariffs
The federal government’s decision yesterday to slap fairly hefty tariffs on Chinese solar panels has prompted worries about a big rise in costs for consumers to go solar. But the impact will not likely be as significant for two reasons.…
Read MoreKleiner Perkins backs solar sales & marketing startup
Gen110 started out as a solar sales and marketing company in 2009, and now it plans to add other residential energy services and has lined up Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as an investor to help its expansion, Gen110 said Thursday.…
Read MoreSolarCity moves beyond solar
SolarCity isn’t content with being just an installer of solar panels on rooftops. The company, which reportedly has plans to go public, has expanded beyond solar to a broader set of energy-related services, including upgrading air conditioners and insulating air ducts.…
Read MoreSolar service startup Sungevity is raising $41M
Solar service provider Sungevity under went some serious expansion in 2011 as it began to target the East Coast and overseas, and lined up Lowe’s as an investor and partner. Now following that growth, the startup has started raising a new funding round of $40.8 million.…
Read More10 things I want from cleantech in 2012
Let's face it. For cleantech, at least in the U.S., this year was kindof a bummer. But that's what New Year's resolutions and wishes are for: turning a new page when the year starts over. Here's what I want from cleantech in 2012.…
Read MoreSungevity brings residential solar overseas
Sungevity, a venture-backed residential solar service provider, is heading overseas. The company announced Thursday that it’s made an equity investment in a new Dutch company and will license its software and provide engineering services to the startup.…
Read MoreInvestors enamored with rooftop solar
The solar market has been marked by falling profits and controversial federal government loans this year, but one bright spot is the growth of the residential and small commercial solar sector in which investors are setting up more funds to financial installations.…
Read MoreSolar Mosaic, Kickstarter for solar aims high
Introducing crowd sourcing meets solar, with a kick. Startup Solar Mosaic has built a Kickstarter-style platform that is bringing together peer-to-peer lenders that want to make loans for solar projects in underserved communities, and plans to one day offer ways to make money from solar.…
Read MoreGoogle invests $75M into Clean Power Finance solar fund
Google is investing millions of dollars into its second fund that will go toward installing solar panels on rooftops. On Tuesday Rick Needham, Google's Director of Green Business Operations, announced that Google will invest $75 million into a solar fund for startup Clean Power Finance…
Read MoreClean Power Finance raises $19M from Kleiner, Google VC
Clean Power Finance, a solar software and financing startup, has raised $19 million from investors, according to a filing. Investors listed on the company's filing include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Partner Ben Kortlang, and Claremont Creek's Nat Goldhaber.…
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