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GM Releases Smart Grid APIs for Chevy Volt, via OnStar

General Motors wants developers to program plug-in Volts for the smart grid.

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Adobe Adds 400 Kilowatts of Bloom Fuel Cells

But can the fuel cell firm survive as subsidies fade?

Earlier this week Adobe announced that it had added another 400 kilowatts of Bloom Energy fuel cells to its current fleet of Bloom Boxes.

I spoke with Mike Bangs, Adobe's Director of Global Facilities, about the installation. The two 200-kilowatt units installed at the company's San Francisco site are Bloom's next-generation design and put out twice the power of the previous 100-kilowatt model -- in the same footprint. Those two units… Read More ›

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Smart Grid Needs ‘Round Two’ Investment

A Microsoft-OSIsoft global smart grid survey finds that half of utilities are looking at system integration needs.

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Rubenius, 1 GW of Energy Storage, Revisited

Layoffs and deployment delays at the ambitious and mysterious Dubai firm, plus a trail of unpaid and unhappy contractors

In September of 2010, Greentech Media scored one of the first U.S. interviews with Claus Rubenius, CEO of the eponymous firm that was going to build the most massive electrochemical energy storage project in the world.

Rubenius was going to construct an "energy warehouse" of up to one gigawatt (or four to six gigawatt-hours) of NGK sodium sulfur batteries on 350 acres of land in Baja California to provide an energy storage resource to… Read More ›

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Balancing Hawaiian Wind Power With Demand Response

Honeywell and Hawaiian Electric plan out fast demand response program to balance wind power ups and downs.

Can the right combination of technology and economic incentives get utility customers to turn down megawatts of power use fast enough to balance wind power’s ups and downs? Honeywell and Hawaiian Electric Co. (HECO) are going to try it out on the island of Oahu, using Honeywell’s automated demand response technology.

Under the two-year pilot announced Thursday, HECO plans to offer customers lucrative incentives to turn over their power loads… Read More ›

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PG&E Will Offer Analog Meters for Opt-Out

CPUC rules that only one option will be available for opting out.

The California Public Utility Commission ruled today that Pacific Gas & Electric customers that do not want smart meters could pay to have an analog meter.

The long-awaited vote is being watched by other states, although California is not the first to formalize its smart meter opt-out plans.

Residents who are concerned about their smart meters, whether due to privacy issues or electromagnetic radiation health concerns, they can pay a… Read More ›

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Aclara Turns on Green Button for Pepco

Can every home in America share energy-use data in a common language?

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Ira Ehrenpreis on the State of the Cleantech Industry

The annual gathering of the cleantech cognoscenti

PALM SPRINGS, California --- Reporting from the Clean-Tech Investor Summit.

Ira Ehrenpreis is the cleantech partner at VC-investment firm Technology Partners. For the eighth year in a row, Ehrenpreis is serving as the Conference Chairman of the Clean-Tech Investor Summit today and tomorrow in Palm Springs, Ca. He has been investing in cleantech since long before it was called 'cleantech.'

When Ehrenpreis first started investing in… Read More ›

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Smart Grid Roundup: Pennsylvania Peak Drop and Smarter Capacitor Banks

Pennsylvania utilities call on Comverge, EnerNOC and Johnson Controls to control customers’ peak power. Plus, cap banks are cool.

Here’s some post-DistribuTECH smart grid news for the week so far, the lead item being Pennsylvania's emergence as the new gold rush market for demand response. The state legislature has commanded utilities to shave 4.5 percent of their peak load by next year, and utilities have hired EnerNOC, Comverge and Johnson Controls to help out.

The latest is Johnson Controls, which announced Monday it would build a platform for PECO to connect up to… Read More ›

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First Solar on the Future of Photovoltaics: Part 2

In order to thrive, First Solar must deploy 65 GW of photovoltaic panels over the next decade.

First Solar is the largest solar module firm by market capitalization, the largest thin-film solar firm, and one of the largest solar firms by capacity, shipments, and certainly by cumulative profits. The company is in the cross-hairs of every other solar firm and continues to set the bar in terms of solar panel value and corporate performance.

What first Solar does in the next few years is important.

Which is why more than 200 people… Read More ›

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Report: Solar Trade Barriers Threaten Over 60,000 American Jobs

Study warns of dire impact on US solar industry jobs if tariffs are imposed.

The Brattle Group has issued an economic analysis on the impact of a 100 percent tariff on PV cells imported from China.

Keep in mind that the study was commissioned by CASE, the Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy -- the group that opposes the tariffs sought by SolarWorld and its anti-dumping claims with the Department of Commerce.

Jigar Shah, President of CASE, said, "We are greatly concerned over the adverse impact of tariffs." He… Read More ›

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Green Job Moves at Flextronics, Amonix, SolarCity and the US Government

The ebb and flow of greentech personnel

Aneesh Chopra, the nation's first Chief Technology Officer, resigned his office last week. Chopra was a champion of merging America's IT prowess with the health care and energy sectors. He also brought a focus on the cybersecurity sector. He had spoken about accelerating the smart grid through innovation enabled by open standards. His office was "extraordinarily concerned about cybersecurity in the grid." He was also demand-response-savvy.

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US CTO Aneesh Chopra, Champion of Consumer Energy Awareness, Resigns

A smart grid-savvy government lead technologist departs his post. 

Aneesh Chopra, the nation's first Chief Technology Officer, resigned his office today. 

Chopra was a champion of merging America's IT prowess with the health care and energy sector. He also brought a focus on the cybersecurity sector.

He had spoken about accelerating the smart grid through innovation enabled by open standards. His office was "extraordinarily concerned about cybersecurity in the grid." He was also savvy about… Read More ›

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Sources: eMeter’s Price to Siemens Was $180M to $220M

What’s the balance between return to investors and return to acquirers in the smart grid startup M&A world?

When Siemens bought eMeter in December, one of the biggest questions left unanswered was for what price, and thus, what return for the investors that have collectively put about $70 million into the company.

We may have an answer. According to two sources with knowledge of the matter, Siemens paid between $180 million and $220 million for eMeter, representing a 2.6x to 3.1x multiple on investors’ stakes in the San Mateo, Calif.-based… Read More ›

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Clarification: China-US Solar Trade Claim

Chinese module manufacturer’s rush to ship product tied more to the expiration of 1603 than it is to evade potential tariffs, according to Trina et al.

According to a bulletin from CASM, The Department of Commerce "will begin collecting duties back 90 days on Chinese imports" if it finds duties are warranted.

The CASM statement said that CASM lauded "the U.S. Department of Commerce for taking expedited action against a massive, evasive surge of Chinese solar cell and panel imports ahead of Commerce’s first preliminary determination on duties, now scheduled for March 2, 2012.  Commerce’s… Read More ›

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PG&E, Picarro Hit the Road With Gas-Sniffing Chevy Volts

Can mobile gas-sniffing units prevent another pipeline disaster?

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Lux Capital, VCs Exit an LED-Water Purification Startup

Crystal IS merges with Asahi Kasei in a greentech exit for the solid-state ultra-violet LED company.

Earlier this month, VC- and strategic-funded Crystal IS was acquired by the Asahi Kasei Group, a manufacturer of compound semiconductor devices. Crystal IS is developing ultraviolet light-emitting diodes on aluminum nitride substrates for germicidal water applications. Crystal IS has been in development mode for over a decade with technology spun out of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.

Short wavelength UV light below 280… Read More ›

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ABB Buys Thomas & Betts for $3.9B, Siemens Acquires RuggedCom

Siemens buys RuggedCom for $381M.

ABB is serious about gaining a foothold in North America. The Swiss power automation giant has been strengthening its North American presence lately and added to that position on Monday with a $3.9 billion purchase of Thomas & Betts, a Memphis, Tenn.-based supplier of low-voltage projects.

“Thomas & Betts is a well-run company with strong brands and excellent distribution channels in the world’s largest low-voltage products market,” Joe… Read More ›

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Cleanweb Hackathon: Competition Brings Cleantech Apps to NYC

Could New York be bigger than San Fran in cleanweb?

Last weekend, New York had more to be proud of than just a football team, as Greg Neichin from Cleantech Group pointed out. At the second Cleanweb Hackathon, and the first to be held in New York City, a host of teams made the NYC cleantech community proud during a 30-plus-hour hacking session that ended in presentations to a select panel of judges.

The overall prize went to Econofy and their slogan, "Before you buy, Econofy." The beta… Read More ›