Reuters: Philips Sells 80 percent of Lighting Components Unit for $2.8 Billion

Philips has agreed to sell an 80.1 percent stake in its lighting components division for $2.8 billion to Go Scale Capital, a technology fund that will seek to expand the company's automotive and LED businesses.

The deal announced on Tuesday is a prelude to an even bigger strategic move for Philips: spinning off its main lighting division, the world’s largest lighting maker, via a stock market flotation, as the Dutch group focuses on medical technology and selected consumer products.

Philips said the deal values the components business, which comprises an automotive lighting unit and the "Lumileds" LED manufacturing business, at $3.3 billion including debt.

Bloomberg: GE Makes Once-a-Decade Bet on Big Turbines as Energy Use Surges

General Electric Co.’s industrial overhaul rests in part on a piece of machinery that’s larger than a Winnebago and weighs as much as a Boeing 747. Now, it just needs to work.

GE plans to deliver its newest gas turbine in July, a decade after the rollout of an earlier model that was hindered by performance issues and sold poorly. The company is investing $2 billion developing the new 433-ton unit, which can churn out enough electricity to power 400,000 homes.

That investment reflects the turbine’s importance to Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt’s plan to strengthen GE’s industrial business while shrinking the volatile lending arm.

Quartz: Two Industrial Titans Are Duking it Out Over Battery Patents

The high-tech patent wars have spread to a new front, engaging two of the world’s largest industrial companies in a multi-billion-dollar court battle over lithium-ion batteries. At issue is a battery chemistry that, while little known to the public, many experts believe currently holds the best chance of [allowing] electric cars [to penetrate] the mass market.

The case pits Germany’s BASF, the world’s largest chemical company, against Belgium’s Umicore, one of the biggest makers of battery materials. Filed by BASF on Feb. 20 in U.S. federal court in Delaware, the lawsuit -- which has been reported only by patent blogs -- accuses Umicore of selling a key battery component to which BASF holds an exclusive license.

Arizona Republic: TEP Proposes Change in Payments for New Solar Customers

Tucson Electric Power last week asked utility regulators to alter the way solar customers are paid for the excess power they send to the grid.

The filing comes on the heels of Salt River Project's recent vote to raise fees on solar customers an average of about $50 a month, mostly through a new demand charge based on the highest peak usage during a month.

TEP would not use a demand charge for solar customers like [the one imposed by] SRP. Instead, the company proposes paying solar customers the same price for their electricity sent to the grid as what the company pays to commercial solar power plants.

Japan Times: Amazon Japan Starts Selling Electric Cars

First it was books, then household products; now you can buy an electric car from online shopping giant Amazon.

The Japanese unit of German auto giant BMW on Wednesday started selling its i3 electric models on Amazon.co.jp.

The high-end automaker’s small electric vehicle has been popular in European and North American markets, but BMW Japan wants to find more customers through the online retailer, a spokesperson said in Tokyo.