Today's Date:
Monday, May 12, 2008
Solar
April 04, 2008
News from the Photovoltaic Technology Show in Munich, Germany, is silicon heavy as analysts scour the announcements to assess when the multi-year silicon shortage will end.
April 04, 2008
The Chinese solar-wafer manufacturer could be short $200 million to $300 million of what it needs to build its silicon plants and expand its wafer production, CFO Jack Lai said at Photon's Photovoltaic Technology Show in Munich, Germany.
April 04, 2008
According to a note from Piper Jaffray, Spain is considering boosting its cap on solar incentives to 2.26 gigawatts, from a previous cap of 400 megawatts and a previous proposal of 1.2 gigawatts. The news could be good for the industry, but bad for U.S. installers.
April 03, 2008
Schuco, E.ON, China Stream Fund Solar Energy and XsunX push forward with their manufacturing-facility plans.
April 03, 2008
The Israeli solar company says "¡sí!" to manufacturing solar-thermal equipment in Spain.
April 02, 2008
Electrorides prepares to debut its electric truck, and will offer an option to trick it out with an engine that uses vegetable oil or biodiesel.
April 02, 2008
SolarCity signs a deal with Morgan Stanley that will cut homeowners' upfront solar-installation costs to about $2,000 and charge them a fixed monthly fee -- not a rate -- for solar power. It's the latest in a series of new programs trying to use a commercial financial model to grow the residential solar market.
April 01, 2008
As BrightSource signs the largest deal yet for solar-thermal and Nanosolar gets an additional $50 million and another customer, senators prepare yet another bill that would extend tax credits for renewables.
April 01, 2008
A report by the Prometheus Institute and Greentech Media forecasts that concentrating solar-thermal and concentrating PV will make up 12 and 6 gigawatts of installed capacity, respectively, while standard flat-plate PV will make up the rest of a predicted 288-gigawatt market.
March 31, 2008
As Ireland's largest utility promises to invest $16.5 billion in renewable-energy projects and technology, smart-grid company GridPoint grabs $15 million, solar installer AES Solar raises up to $1 billion and CMEA Ventures closes its largest venture fund at $400 million.
March 28, 2008
A pilot program that would have heated San Francisco's solar market with $3 million in incentives -- and become the largest such program in the nation -- has been put on hold because of budget concerns. Sun Run president says uncertainty could make the city less attractive to solar companies.
March 25, 2008
AES Corporation and Riverstone Holdings join forces and funding to create AES Solar, a company that will own and operate large solar projects. The news could heat debate about whether solar-electric or solar-thermal technologies make more sense at that size.
March 24, 2008
While U.K. banking giant HSBC looks to back renewable-energy projects, lighting company Luminus Devices grabs $72 million and Dutch display-manufacturing company Liquavista sees $12.5 million.
March 21, 2008
Thin-film solar VPs Jeffrey Britt and Tim Teich discuss the challenges, the competition and why they're confident they'll succeed, in spite of thin film's troubled past.
March 21, 2008
More than 150 industry leaders gathered in San Francisco for Greentech Media's first finance-focused event. Speakers discussed power-purchase agreements, public markets and government policy, and Prometheus Institute President Travis Bradford presented his updated solar forecast.
March 20, 2008
After at least two similar projections, another report forecasts that solar supply will exceed demand as early as next year.
March 19, 2008
Company releases preliminary earnings, indicating a $14.7 million loss three times as large as analysts expected; one analyst says expected gross profit is a sign that operations are still 'solid.'
March 19, 2008
The Nobel laureate and former vice president advocates a tax on carbon dioxide emissions as the U.S. Senate continues to debate a carbon cap-and-trade system.
March 19, 2008
Chinese solar-wafer manufacturer's stock falls, while German concentrating solar company raises an undisclosed sum.
March 18, 2008
Global manufacturers increased production of solar cells by more than 50 percent last year, exceeding expectations as more silicon and thin-film solar came online.