Manufacturing could hit a new upswing in the United States
A few years ago, it was still a subject of regular outrage. Jobs were headed to Mexico. Factories moving to China. Everybody hated globalization, without quite understanding it. But with a flood of news coverage — the slightly nauseating peak being an all-too-popular book about the world being flat — people finally figured it out: The manufacturing jobs were gone. Get a job banking, or flipping burgers, but don’t expect to be building cars or… Continue Reading
Small municipal plants could be the future for solar power
Writing on Nanosolar’s blog, CEO Martin Roscheisen has unveiled the next prong in his firm’s business plan — a focus on municipal solar power plants of 2 – 10 megawatts in size. The idea is to build 10 acre lots on the outskirts of small cities that could feed into the municipal power grid directly.
Each lot, consisting of several rows of solar panels mounted on rails above ground, could provide up to 2 megawatts, enough… Continue Reading
Infinia, a solar power startup, attracts attention from iPod and iPhone manufacturer
For an idea of what a sun-powered future might look like without solar panels or huge solar thermal farms, take a look at Infinia — an odd little startup I covered two months ago when it sucked in a hefty $50 million round and announced plans to start churning out dish-based systems next year.
By some back-of-the-envelope calculations I did following another recent conversation with CEO J.D. Sitton, there’s enough free industrial capacity in the United… Continue Reading
Infinia, with $50M, becomes latest solar player to draw big investment
Although it’s over two decades old, Infinia is a relative newcomer to the solar market, having only been working on its solar thermal generator for a few years.
That may not prevent it from quickly becoming one of the largest players, though, with a new $50 million investment to kick off production and a slate of manufacturing partners ready to help fulfill its first orders.
The most notable detail about Infinia’s technology is that it’s based on… Continue Reading
Infinia gets $9.4M to push the Stirling engine for solar
Earlier this week, we wrote about setbacks at some Silicon Valley companies with new solar technology.
They’re built on real science and work in the labs, but they’re grappling with the real-world manufacturing stage.
Infinia, of Kennewick, Wash., is another example of this. It has just raised more cash to help it develop products based on the “Stirling engine,” which creates electricity by processing various types of fuel, and by using heat differentials to drive a… Continue Reading
Bright Source raises less than $50M for large solar power plants
Bright Source Energy (no Web site), an Oakland start-up that designs and builds large solar power plants with new technology, has finished its first round of funding with investments from two new investors, VentureWire reports today.
Draper Fisher Jurvetson and the J.P. Morgan Bay Area Equity Fund joined previous investor VantagePoint Venture Partners in a round of “under $50 million.” VentureBeat first covered the company, formerly known as Luz II, here.
Bright Source is significant because it… Continue Reading