AlertMe teams with Google, British Gas to give consumers more control over energy use
AlertMe is the newest energy monitoring device maker to partner with Google PowerMeter, giving homeowners more information and control over how much electricity they are using, and how much they pay for it. By providing hardware that plugs into your home’s traditional electric meter and your broadband connection, British-based AlertMe now makes power consumption data available on your internet browser via the Google PowerMeter interface — if you happen to live in the United Kingdom.
The… Continue Reading
Top British investor takes stake in U.S. wind power
Terra Firma, the private equity firm chaired by well-known British investor Guy Hands, has acquired EverPower Wind Holdings for an estimated $350 million — indicating significant European interest in U.S. wind developments. German and Spanish companies — significantly Fotowatio — have staked out U.S. solar opportunities with less emphasis on wind.
Headquartered in Manhattan, EverPower has wind farms in the works in Oregon, Ohio, Pennsylvania (including one that’s already operational there) and New York state. Wind… Continue Reading
AlertMe takes in $13M for online energy management
AlertMe, maker of a system that allows homeowners to measure and control the energy used by their appliances, has raised $13 million in a second round of funding. By hooking into a household’s broadband connection, the Alertme.com Energy Kit transmits power consumption data recorded from individual appliances to a centralized web interface where customers can view the information and actually control use. For example, they can flip switches, alter settings during peak energy periods, and… Continue Reading
Sage Electrochemics catches $20M for green window coatings
Sage Electrochemics makes a thin-film window glaze that changes tint throughout the day to let in an optimal amount of light and selectively trap the sun’s rays to heat or cool green buildings. The Fairbault, Minn. company just brought in $20 million in a third round of funding led by Good Energies and joined by existing investors Applied Ventures and Bekaert.
It claims that its product, called SageGlass, can slash energy bills for facilities accustomed to… Continue Reading
Massachusetts shines on solar co. Konarka, loans $5M
Thin-film solar company Konarka just landed a $5 million loan from the Emerging Technology Fund of Massachusetts Development Finance Agency and the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust’s Business Expansion Initiative. The funds will be used to build out its new solar material factory in New Bedford, Mass., which has been open since October.
Konarka is known for making plastic solar film capable of turning natural and artificial light into power. Its current manufacturing plant can make enough… Continue Reading
Microstaq, the chip company that wants to cut air conditioning costs, raises $12.5M more
Microstaq, the Austin, Texas company that has designed a chip that performs some of the functions in an air conditioner while cutting the costs by 20 percent to 30 percent, has raised $12.5 million in second round of financing (Series B).
Good Energies led the investment. Existing backers Yaletown Venture Partners and Polygon Group also participated. The company has raised $22.5 million to date. We wrote about the company here, when it presented at the DEMO… Continue Reading
SolarReserve promises a first in energy storage with $140M solar power financing
The problem with solar power is that it only works when the sun is shining. Once the sun goes down, there’s no more power. SolarReserve hopes to change that, with a design it says can store solar power at 99 percent efficiency.
SolarReserve’s basic technology is similar to that of other companies, including Ausra, Brightsource and eSolar. Called solar thermal power, it uses mirrors to reflect sunlight onto a centralized structure, in this case a tower…. Continue Reading
Europe’s largest onshore wind farm is coming to Romania
Taking a page from T. Boone Pickens, who made waves when he announced that he was building the world’s largest wind farm in Texas, Continental Wind Partners and CEZ Group have concluded a deal to create Europe’s largest onshore farm, with a total capacity of 600 megawatts (onshore farms tend to be in hilly areas 3 km or more inland from the shoreline while offshore farms are 10 km or more from land).
As part of… Continue Reading
Google.org gives electric cars a push, with investments in Aptera and ActaCell
Two companies have been tapped as the first recipients of an investment from a program called RechargeIT, run by Google’s philanthropic arm: Aptera Motors, a Carlsbad, Calif. company that is gearing up to sell a futuristic three-wheeled car; and ActaCell, a battery company that hopes to help make electric cars both cheap and safe.
Each company is receiving $2.75 million from Google.org (although ActaCell also has other new investors). The announcement comes as RechargeIT is releasing… Continue Reading
Promising a cheap silicon supply for solar, 6N Silicon raises $20M
One of the solar photovoltaic industry’s biggest problems right now is a lack of polysilicon needed to make their solar cells. Supply shortages aren’t expected to ease up for another couple years; meanwhile, those who do have solar-grade silicon to sell are making money hand-over-fist.
6N Silicon wants to join the fray with a proprietary manufacturing process of its own, which is capable of improving low-grade silicon enough to be of use in solar (but not… Continue Reading
EverPower raises $55M to expand wind power projects
EverPower Renewables, a New York developer of wind power farms, today announced it has closed a $55 million in financing from Good Energies, an investor the renewable energy industry.
It follows news yesterday that competitor Nordic Windpower raised a significant round of funding from Goldman Sachs.
EverPower is developing more than 1.5GW of projects in seven states. A portion of the proceeds from this investment will pay for turbines for EverPower’s Pennsylvania and New York projects, totaling… Continue Reading
Konarka raises $45M more for solar, despite no clear direction
Konarka, yet another company experimenting with new-fangled technology to produce more efficient solar cells, hasn’t been able to articulate a clear business strategy in the six years since it started.
However, solar technology is hot, and the company has raised $45 million more in capital to give it more time to keep trying. It has now raised more than $100 million.
Like several other start-ups, the Lowell, Mass. company has been using non-silicon material to produce a… Continue Reading