ZigBee is going to take off, thanks to smart metering, according to research firm InStat. Shipments of chips based around the 802.15.4 standard will rise to 292 million units in 2012, way up from the seven million sold in 2007. (ZigBee is based around 802.15.4) About one-third of the chips on the 802.15.4 protocol will be based around d a ZigBee stack, but that's still nearly 100 million chips sold. A leading driver of demand for these chips will be smart meters and sensors for home networks. With these home networks, electric meters will be able to turn down air conditioners or turn off the heater in dryers to save power. Some of the companies promoting ZigBee include Comverge, Tendril, Freescale and Trilliant. ZigBee started gaining traction in smart metering in 2006 and 2007. (Here's Trilliant's Bill Vogel and others ZigBee's rise from last summer and one of the earlier articles on this trend from 2007.) ZigBee chips can only transfer small amounts of data, but they consume very little power. Since the dryer doesn't have much to say to the meter, you can employ a wireless ZigBee nodule powered by a battery to convert your dryer into an intelligent appliance. It's about time. I recall back in 2003 when Philips and others began to tout ZigBee. They formed the group after the HomeRF alliance disbanded after creative differences and customer indifference. At the time, they really didn't know where or how it could be used. One person suggested it would be good for a wireless mouse. But since most people already had functioning wireless mice, there didn't seem to be a huge burning need. But the race isn't over yet. Some companies such as GainSpan are promoting WiFi for this purpose, which is already pervasive in many areas. You could have your home WiFi basestation handle all of this communications. Powerline networking also wants to control the home. So we shall see.

A possible change in federal incentives for solar power projects could soon extend to all renewable energy producers, if draft language in the $825 billion stimulus bill working its way through Congress can make it into law. Already, the massive and ever-changing bill may help the solar power industry with one of its key goals — getting investment tax credits that aren't of much use today shifted to direct payments from the federal government (see Tax Credit Fix for Solar in the Works). But another section of the draft stimulus bill would allow wind power producers and other renewable energy projects that now receive production tax credits — a 1.9-cent per kilowatt-hour benefit for the first ten years of operation — to shift them to 30-percent investment tax credits like those now enjoyed by solar power projects. And if this change —  along with the shift from investment tax credits to rebates — remain in the stimulus bill, that could help wind power and other renewable power projects keep up their growth, said Scott Brown, CEO of New Energy Capital, said Thursday at the Clean-Tech Investor Summit in Palm Springs. The problem with tax credits, he explained, is that many Wall Street banks and other investors that saw big losses last year don't have taxable income to offset. That, along with the credit crunch and general economic downturn, has made financing renewable energy projects very challenging, he said.  The changes now being considered for the stimulus bill "could be very valuable" in helping ease those challenges, he said, since they would allow wind power and other renewable energy projects join solar power in receiving rebates in lieu of less useful tax credits. But there's a catch. Right now the tax credit-to-rebate shift is only set to apply to projects that can be producing energy by the end of 2010, Brown said. That may be reasonable for wind and solar photovoltaic projects now being developed, he said. But many forms of renewable energy projects — biofuel plants, solar-thermal plants, combined heat-and-power projects — will likely take longer than two years to build, he said.  "What they should do is allow hem to take the credit against any expenditures taken before 2010," is Brown's suggestion to Congress. "That would benefit those that have longer construction timeframes." Of course, there would have to be safeguards in place to ensure rebates aren't taken by projects that then fail to be completed, he said. And of course, then there's no guarantee that any of this — or other proposals to help green technology efforts like smart grid deployment — will make it into the final stimulus bill.     

Wind turbine blade maker TPI Composites has landed $20 million in a second round of funding — and one of the leading investors, GE, is also a customer.

The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company announced the funding Thursday at the Cleantech Investor Summit in Palm Springs. Investors included GE Equity and GE Energy Financial Services, Landmark Growth Capital Partners, NGP Energy Technology Partners and Angeleno Group. TPI, which started out as a fiberglass boat maker but now makes composite materials for wind power, military and transportation markets, raised $22 million in 2007.

TPI sells its wind turbine blades to GE Energy as well as to Mitsubishi Power Systems, meaning that GE knows TPI’s product, noted Raj Atluru, a managing director at Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

“It’s almost a no-brainer,??? he said of the investment. GE is an investor in several wind power-related companies as well as financing wind power projects, and estimates that wind turbine blade sales made up $2.1 billion in 2007.

TPI last year tripled its capacity at its joint venture facility with Mitsubishi Power Systems in Mexico, and opened factories in Newton, Iowa and Taicang, China under supply agreements with GE Energy.

Investing in companies with proven products and established customers could be a tempting choice in times of economic uncertainty (see VCs Predict Greentech Investment Slowdown).

“I haven’t yet seen a lot of investments like that, but I think there’s a lot of temptation for investors,??? said Matt Horton, a principal with greentech venture firm @Ventures. “Proven technologies are at a premium.???

But that doesn’t mean VCs are abandoning emerging technologies, he and Atluru said.

“General venture is still looking for significant technology advancements,??? Atluru said.