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Solar Roundup: HelioVolt, Hoku, Petra, Amonix, ECD

Funding, forecasting, and fulminating

According to the Austin Business Journal, HelioVolt, a once well-funded and well-regarded CIGS PV aspirant, has delayed its job creation commitments by two years in an attempt to preserve some local funding and save face. HelioVolt altered an agreement with state officials 18 months after it received $1 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund calling for the creation of 158 jobs. Now, an amended agreement extends the target date for creating… Read More ›

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Thin-Film Solar Investment Dries Up

Thin film 2010 is thin film 2.0: go small or go home.

VC investment in solar power is still going strong, despite a dismal 2009 and an only slightly more heartening first quarter of 2010.

But the sub-sector of thin-film solar is a different story.  In 2007 and 2008, almost every energy and greentech investor invested in a thin-film firm.  In fact, they did so in a big way -- with $100 million plus funding rounds going to Nanosolar, HelioVolt, AVA Solar, MiaSole, Sulfurcell, SoloPower, etc.

Here's a… Read More ›

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Spain’s Solar Export Ambition

The country has carved a reputation as a large solar market, but it’s intent on building a strong technology export industry as well.

Mentioning Spain and solar, and it inevitably conjures up images of an exuberant market that went limp within a year.

But the country is more than a destination for companies. Thanks to its solar incentives, it has bred homegrown manufacturers and project developers that are keen on conquering the American market as those from Asia and Europe.

You just might not hear much about many of them. Roughly a dozen Spanish companies that have opened… Read More ›

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Chinese Competitors, Diesel v. Gas and Other Things on Ford’s Mind

The car maker wants to be solidly profitable by 2011. But it’s a changing landscape.

Wayne, MI-China could be the source of the world's next big car brands, but the country seems to be off to a slower than expected start, says Gunnar Herrmann, director of the Global C Platform at Ford Motor Co.

"The Chinese manufacturers are trying hard to get into the European market. Cost-wise they are quite attractive," he said in during a break during a set of briefings at the company's facilities last week. "But I don't believe they have… Read More ›

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Copenhagen: A Mixed Bag for Greentech

Countries big and small are gathering in Copenhagen to settle on a treaty to cut emissions. Cheaper technologies will find favors with major polluters.

Starting next week, delegates from industrial and developing nations will gather to hopefully hammer out a global treaty that should benefit greentech companies, though not to the same degree across the board.

Nearly 200 countries will take part in the two-week meeting in Copenhagen to agree on a plan to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which was adopted in 1997 to curb global warming. Under the protocol, 37 industrialized nations agreed to cut… Read More ›

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DOE Doles Out $620M for Smart Grid

The government is giving money to 32 projects for demonstrating a host of equipment and software to manage energy supply and demand.

The U.S. government is giving $620 million to 32 projects to demonstrate technologies for storing energy, managing electricity distribution and monitoring energy consumption.

The Tuesday announcement, made by Energy Secretary Steve Chu in Columbus, Ohio, is the latest wave of public funding for smart grid technologies (see list of winners). AEP Ohio is one of the winners, and the utility plans to use the $75 million from the DOE for projects… Read More ›

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Coming Soon: Mulitcolored Lights for the Home, More Cheap LED Bulbs

Want a blue wash for the living room and pink shadows in the kitchen? A light coming from Osram Sylvania next year will let you do it.

One of the more intriguing features about light-emitting diodes is that they come in a variety of colors, effectively giving architects and designers a tool for creating visual effects or shaping interior spaces.

Unfortunately, most of them right now don't come in what you'd call decorator colors: hazardous waste yellow, nuclear meltdown red, Incredible Hulk green.  

Osram Sylvania next year will try to thread that gap with a pendant light that… Read More ›

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2,300 People on Waiting List for Think City and 4,000 at Aptera

Who wants an electric car? The hundreds and thousands of people who’ve joined waiting lists that’s who.

Tesla and Fisker aren't the only cars with waiting lists.

Think, the Norwegian electric car maker that rebounded from a near-death experience earlier this year, has 2,300 customers on its waiting list for the Think City town car. The list includes both individuals and businesses that have placed deposits on the car as well as municipal transportation authorities that have placed orders for cars, according to company spokesman James Andrew.

"If… Read More ›

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Car Charging Standard Set for Final Vote

The Society of Automotive Engineers plans to vote on a standard for equipment to charge plug-in hybrid and all-electric cars this week, a move that would make it easier for consumers to refuel cars.

Automakers are expected to vote this week on a standard for cables and plugs that will be used to charge plug-in hybrid and electric cars.

The Society of Automotive Engineers has been working on the standard, called J1772, for the past two and half years, and it is expected to take a vote this week, said Britta Gross, director of global energy systems, infrastructure and commercialization at General Motors, over a web chat Tuesday.

"All major… Read More ›

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SolarEdge Lines Up GE as Investor

The Israeli outfit wants to take on National Semi and others in improving solar panels with electronics. In solar, it’s the big growth field.

SolarEdge Technologies has raised a round of money from General Electric.

The company's CEO Guy Sella declined to disclose the amount, making it difficult to gauge the impact of this fundraising effort. Israel-based SolarEdge plans to use the money for sales and boosting the production of its electronic devices for solar energy systems.

Founded in 2006, SolarEdge has developed a set of chips paired with the electrical wiring for tracking the… Read More ›

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Intel Touts Power Management for Buildings, Will Acquisitions Follow?

The quickest way to save energy is controlling power consumption in buildings. It requires PCs and chips. Intel is intrigued.

SAN FRANCISCO -- News Analysis -- Intel says that the quickest way to a more intelligent grid might be through tools that can manage power consumption inside homes and buildings.

And in the end, that could one day mean good news for startups in this space looking for a big brother or someone to buy them.

Andrew Chien, a vice president of Intel Labs, gave an overview at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco today on microgrids – i.e.,… Read More ›

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A123 Closes Above $20: 50% Jump on IPO

It’s one of the biggest IPO starts in green since First Solar in 2006.

What a difference a year makes.

In August 2008, battery-maker A123 Systems filed papers to hold an initial public offering to raise $175 million, amid economic turmoil and concern among some investors that the company would not get the contract to supply batteries to the Chevy Volt.

This week, the company held an IPO that raised $380 million dollars and allowed the company to sell its stock for $13.50 a share, above the earlier estimates that… Read More ›

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Inside the Green Brick House

Forget heat and energy. Chemical catalysts are the key to manufacturing in the future, says CalStar.

NEWARK, Calif. -- When you think of a chemical curing room inside of a factory, hot temperatures and noxious fumes probably come to mind.

Actually, it was sort of like a spa: A fine mist swirled through the air and the room was a few degrees cooler inside than out. A CalStar Products employee periodically came in with a fresh tray of the company's bricks to set on a rack.

Industrial spa treatments like CalStar's lay at the heart of the movement… Read More ›

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Obstacle to Cutting Emissions: Filling Out Surveys

Businesses are under increasing pressure to collect and answer detailed questions about their emissions, but the effort isn’t so easy or cheap to accomplish.

Here is one hurdle for a business to achieve sustainability: answering questionnaires.

It's about data collection, and a growing number of companies large and small are not just analyzing their own carbon footprint, but also the emissions of their suppliers and customers.

A new GTM Research report scheduled for publication at the end of the month shows that 70 percent of the companies surveyed have already set pollution and waste reduction… Read More ›

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Tesla Bags $82.5M for Retail Stores

The electric automaker didn’t seek out the money but was approached by investors who see a good bet in the startup, which has selected a SoCal site to make the Model S.

Tesla Motors has raised $82.5 million to fund the opening and operation of its retail stores in North America and Europe.

The San Carlos, Calif.-based electric automaker snagged the funding after being approached by investors, said Rachel Konrad, Tesla's spokeswoman Tuesday.

"It's linked to the acceleration of our retail strategy, which consisted of opening regional sales and service centers on two continents," Konrad said.

Fjord Capital… Read More ›

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Oerlikon Solar Tools Coming to America

The Swiss factory equipment maker has lined up its first U.S. customer, who plans to build an initial 90-megawatt plant in an idled Ford assembly plant near Detroit.

An idled Ford assembly plant near Detroit could become home to the first factory in the United States using Oerlikon Solar's thin-film equipment.

The Swiss company is set to provide a 90-megawatt line to Clairvoyant Energy, which plans to set up the factory in the closed Ford plant in Wixom, said Chris O'Brien, head of North American market development for Oerlikon Solar, on Thursday.

"There has been a strong interest from existing and new… Read More ›

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Virtualization, the Next Wave

The big VMWorld 2009 virtualization conference in San Francisco is all about interoperability to push adoption of virtualization – and save electricity.

Everyone says virtualization saves energy. The question remains, can it save IT managers extra headaches?

Champions of virtualization software, as well as the vendors of servers and support services that make virtualization possible, are eager to prove that it can, and that means making their technologies as simple to use – and as interoperable – as possible.

That's the thrust of developments underway at the VMWorld 2009 conference in San… Read More ›

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Air Force Base Efficiency, One House at a Time

The government will be one of the largest customers for building retrofits. Hallowell is tackling the market with improved heat pump systems for Air Force Base housing.

The United States Air Force may be among the world's biggest fossil-fuel hogs, but at least it's using less energy to keep its service members snug in the wintertime.

Hallowell International is providing the decidedly earthbound technology to help. The Bangor, Maine-based company is installing heat pumps in about 2,000 homes at the McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey.

Using electricity to move heat to where it's wanted – indoors in the winter… Read More ›

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Echelon Expands Smart Meter Contract With Duke Energy

The open-ended contract calls for $15.8 million in Echelon’s smart meters, but could expand to a $150 million deal for Duke Energy’s 1.5-million smart meter deployment plans in Ohio and Indiana.

Echelon Corp. (NSDQ: ELON) has gotten its foot in the door to expand its smart meter business with utility Duke Energy, with a $15.8 million order for Echelon’s smart meters and supporting services.

But that initial order for about 120,000 smart meters could expand to $150 million, Echelon said Monday, if Duke continues to use its smart meters across the states where it’s planning to deploy about 1.5 million of them over the coming years.

Duke… Read More ›