Japan-based electronics manufacturer Kyocera announced today it is supplying approximately 30 megawatts of solar power to agricultural facilities across Japan in a deal worth 8.5 billion yen ($89 million).

Kyocera will supply, engineer, construct, and maintain 30MW of solar power generating systems to the project implemented by the National Federation of Agriculture Cooperative Associations (Zen-Noh) and the Mitsubishi Corporation.

The goal of the project is to reinvigorate the agriculture sector and local farming towns and to further spread renewable energy use. There are almost 1.5 million farmers in Japan, and Zen-Noh and Mitsubishi are planning to build one of the country’s largest solar power projects by installing 200MW of solar power systems on farmers’ and Zen-Noh facilities.

Mitsubishi and Kyocera have jointly established the JAMC Solar Energy Company to operate the project and will sell the power generated from the installations to regional utility power companies under Japan’s feed-in tariff program. The objective of the incentive program that began a year ago as a result of the nuclear disaster in Japan in March 2011 is to diversify energy resources, with solar power being the main source of alternative energy.

Kyocera will provide around 124,000 solar modules to the project to be split between 80 locations. Through this project, Kyocera hopes to promote the use of renewable energy and to contribute to local communities.

Kyocera has expanded its solar energy business to include production, supply, installation, construction and operation of large-scale solar power plants and has been researching solar energy since 1975.

Image via Kyocera

In its bajillionth green energy investment, Google has targeted the Jasper Power Project, a South African solar plant.

The investment totals $12 million and marks the search company’s first investment in Africa. This sum is part of a larger $260 million round including investors such as SolarReserve, a U.S. solar power developer; Intikon Energy, a South African renewable energy developer; and the Kensani Group, a South African empowerment investment firm.

The Jasper Power Project will be an advanced photovoltaic plant capable of generating 96 MW of clean energy for residents of South Africa. The project is designed not only to meet the country’s renewable energy goals but also to create long-term jobs and economic opportunity.

“Back in 2008, South Africa experienced a severe energy shortage, which resulted in blackouts throughout the country and slowed down economic growth,” writes Google energy and sustainability director Rick Needham today on the company blog.

“Since then, the South African government has been actively supporting the growth of new sources of electricity to power the nation. … Given South Africa’s position as an economic powerhouse in Africa, a greener grid in South Africa can set an example for the whole continent.”

Previously, Google has made big investments in solar projects around the world. There’s a $168 million investment in a Mojave Desert power tower, a $94 million investment in photovoltaic projects throughout California, a smaller $5 million round for a plant in Germany, and a $280 million deal for SolarCity, which went public the following year.

All that is augmented by other investments in green energy, particularly wind farms.

Image credit: Google

Chances are you’ve heard that we’re using a lot of energy every day and need to, you know, slow our roll. We’ve done an excellent job figuring out how to use fossil fuels, but what about our other natural resources? Wind, some say, is our next best thing.

An infographic created by QuinStreet street below shows that in the last 62 years alone, our energy consumption has increased by 46 percent. Every home is using up more energy charging, lighting, and Internet browsing, that we need to start branching out for energy sources. The good news is, we have!

Since last year, we’ve upped our use of hydro, solar, and wind usage. But while solar powering is still a greentech favorite with nearly a 34 percent increase in usage, wind is creeping up there with a 16 percent increase.

And we’re not just talking far-off wind collectors that only provide energy for facilities willing to use it. Some, such as Oceana.com, believe the energy will trickle all the way down to machines used every day like our cars.

The U.S. Department of Energy current supports seven project sites for six-year-long off-shore wind “initiative.” If Congress allows it, each sit will be given up to $47 million over four years to work on wind energy. These projects are located in Austin, Tx.; Atlantic City, N.J.; Cleveland, Ohio; Seattle, Wash.; Stamford, Conn.; Monhegan Island, Maine.; and Virginia Beach, Va.

Check out the infographic for more on how wind energy has advanced:

Courtesy of: WorldWideLearn.com

Wind energy image via Shutterstock

Sol Voltaics is announcing today it has used nanotechnology to build solar cell modules that are up to 25 percent more efficient than the cells currently on the market. If the company can deliver its SolInk material as advertised, then it could make it a lot cheaper to introduce solar cells to a broader set of customers.

The technology could make solar power in homes and office rooftops much more affordable, which is necessary to increase adoption of solar and help it compete at the same cost as electricity produced from fossil fuel plants. That argument has enabled Sol Voltaics to raise $11 million in funding from public and private Scandinavian investors.

Sol Voltaics’ technology comes from nanotechnology, or the study of materials that are a billionth of a meter in length, and it has been in the works for 15 years at Swedish universities. Now its day has come for adoption in a mainstream business, said Dave Epstein [above], a longtime microprocessor expert (he happened to appear as a cheerful young computer engineer in Tracy Kidder’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning book, “The Soul of a New Machine”) and the chief executive of Sol Voltaics.

“We can increase the efficiency of energy capture, conversion, and storage,” said Epstein. “There’s no smoke and mirrors here.”

Two advances make it possible. The team, led by founder Lars Samuelson (a Lund University professor), created a technology known as Aerotaxy, which makes it cheaper to make nanomaterials. With that, they are creating gallium arsenide nanowires that can serve as solar collectors and that they can integrate directly into solar wafers, known as solar cells. The smarts happens at the atomic level.

The way Epstein figures it, manufacturers don’t have many options for bringing down the costs of solar. Thanks to a worldwide solar glut, economic forces have brought down the costs of installing solar on your roof. And it’s harder and harder to squeeze cost improvements out of everything from the installation process to the modules that hold the cells. The cells themselves must become more efficient to lower costs.

Epstein said about two-thirds of the cost of commercial solar systems involves land, labor costs, and other factors that solar developers can’t directly control. By raising the efficiency of solar modules, Sol Voltaics can give manufacturers a chance to sell more valuable, high-margin products. Solar power utilities will be able to generate more power at a lower price with the same assets.

In other words, a solar company with a big solar panel installation could produce 1.2 megawatts of electricity with the same equipment and land that it currently uses to make 1 megawatt.

As a material, gallium arsenide has been used in solar for years because of its high reliability and high efficiency at converting light into electricity. Orbiting satellites use solar cells made from gallium arsenide to power their internal systems. But gallium arsenide is expensive to make. SolInk dramatically reduces the cost by minimizing the amount of materials used. A nanowire is just one micron in length and 100 nanometers in diameter.

Less than a gram of nanowires goes into to crystalline silicon panels. Nanowires need only cover a small portion of the surface area of crystalline silicon or thin-film solar cells to benefit from all of the features of gallium arsenide. Right now, rivals such as Innovalight (bought by DuPont) can boost a solar panel’s efficiency from 15 percent to 16.1 percent. But with SolInk, a panel could go from 15 percent efficient to almost 19 percent, or from 20 percent to 25 percent. The theoretical limit in converting sunlight to electricity is around 27 percent to 29 percent.

In a research paper published in the journal Science this year, Lund University and Sol Voltaics researchers demonstrated that indium phosphide nanowires covering just 12 percent of the surface of a solar cell resulted in an efficient of 13.8 percent in converting sunlight energy into electricity. The Fraunhofer Institute, a research center in Munich, certified these results. In another paper published this year in Nature, Samuelson described the process using gallium arsenide nanowires.

With Aerotaxy, the resulting solar cells should be able to concentrate more light in an area. Nanowires are typically made through epitaxy, in machines that grow layers of chemicals on top of wafers. It’s a slow and expensive process. With Aerotaxy, you can build nanomaterials by mixing vapors in the air in just a second. The active materials bond to form larger, uniform structures while in motion.

The upshot: Nanowires are grown in air, literally. And Aerotaxy can help you generate tens of billions of nanowires per second on a continuous basis. It’s like cranking out nanowires with a popcorn popper instead of a craftsman. That’s the makings of an affordable and scalable technology for mass production, Epstein said.

“The results have been far better than we ever expected,” said Samuelson. “We understand how different materials react or bond to one another. With Aerotaxy, we essentially create an atmosphere where we can better harness those physical and chemical properties.”

Sol Voltaics will sell SolInk to solar cell and module manufacturers. A manufacturing process can go into existing solar factories to handle the insertion. The company plans to produce gallium arsenide nanowires for demo purpose by the end of 2013, and pilot commercial production is expected in 2015.

Demand for solar is growing globally, with the total number of gigawatts expected at 29.8 in 2012 to 50.8 gigawatts in 2016, according to Greentech Media. Epstein figures that solar is here to stay, since the sun is the only resource that will surely outlast fossil fuels, wind, and other clean energy sources in the long run.

“In spite of what you might hear, solar is a healthy market,” Epstein said.

Sol Voltaics has raised $11 million from Industrifonden, Foundation Asset Management of Sweden, Teknoinvest, Provider, Nano Future Invest, and Scatec Energy of Norway. It has also raised money from public entities including the European Union, Vinnova, and the Nordic Innovation Center. Epstein hopes to raise $10 million to $20 million more this year. Epstein estimates it will take less than $50 million to get the technology from the lab to commercial production.

The company was founded in 2008 and it has 20 or so people. Epstein, who formerly worked as an investor at Crosslink Capital, has also been a consultant to microprocessor companies such as Transmeta. Samuelson is one of the people who picks the candidates for the Nobel Prize in physics. He is a professor at the Lund University department of physics and founder of the Nanometer Structure Consortium and a worldwide authority on nanowires. Magnus Ryde, the former chief executive of TSMC America and 25-year veteran of chip making, is chairman and an investor.

Over time, Aerotaxy could be used to make nanomaterials for power electronics, light-emitting diodes, batteries and energy storage. The company has applied for 40 international patents. Its research partners include the Nanometer Structure Consortium, Lund University, and Lund Nano Lab.

“The promise of nanotechnology has been held back by complexity, low yields and cost. Aerotaxy paves the way for integrating new materials into products in a streamlined manner. This is nanotechnology made simple,” said Alf Bjorseth, Chairman of Scatec and founder of Rec Solar.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Clean Power Finance is trying to be the Bloody Mary of the solar world. Today, the company announced chugging down $37 million to cure “solar hardware hangovers.”

Its mission is to “drive the mass-market adoption of residential solar.”  CPF provides a business-to-business marketplace that connects professionals in the solar industry with people looking to invest in it. The platform also offers white-labeled software-as-a-service tools to create proposals, and drive sales and customer engagement.

The solar sector has had (and caused) some headaches over the past few years. Some companies have struggled to become gain market traction and generate revenue, while other publicly traded companies saw their share value drop as global oversupply and decreased production costs pushed down the price for panels. With people like President Obama and Warren Buffett emphasizing the future of the space (and the impending doom of climate change), the solar industry clearly isn’t going anywhere.  The challenge is to find sustainable business models that make solar technology cost-effective for both businesses and consumers, while also lucrative for the companies behind it.

CPF describes itself as a “familiar enterprise software and financial services company” with a marketplace that is “capital-light, high-scale, and high-margin.” Solar companies provide opportunities for distributed solar financing on the site and CPF connects them with interested investors. It has three sources of revenue- transaction fees for marketing and underwriting services, software licensing fees for the tools, and assets management fees for the people investing in the projects.

“Our investor partners earn favorable returns on stable investments with managed risk,” the company said on the site. “Our solar partners gain access to solar leases power purchase agreements (PPAs) that they can brand and sell to homeowners who want the benefits of solar without the cost and hassle of owning and maintaining a system.”

The marketplace currently has more than 100 solar partners and manages more than $500 million on behalf of its invest partners. It has experienced 325% revenue growth, and thus also provides desirable opportunities for venture capital firms and utility holding companies. Existing investors Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Claremont Creek Ventures, and Sand Hill Angels participating in this round, along with new investors Edison International and Hennessey Capital. There are also two more utility holding companies that invested, which do not want to be public at this time.

The fact that utility holding companies are becoming increasingly interested in solar could provide a boost for this market, which at the moment has seen a decline in deal activity. CPF’s platform helps them come into the solar market. With this $37 million, CPF will continue to accelerate development of software products and services.

CPF was founded in 2006 by Match.com founder Gary Kremen. It is based in San Francisco and has raised more than $65 million to date. Read the press release.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

This week, Everybody Solar funded the installation of a 13.5 kW system on the roof of the Redwood City-based  nonprofit organization, which will save Rebuilding Together Peninsula (RTP) about $100,000 over the course of its 20-year life-span.

“We want to help nonprofits free up their resources to fund their projects,” Everybody Solar representative Liz Oh told me today. “So we’re bringing them renewable energy to help them benefit from going solar and getting free and clean energy.”

Source: Everybody Solar

60 solar panels arrive for Rebuilding Together Peninsula

All together, Everybody Solar will be installing about 60 solar panels on RTP’s roof with the help of another nonprofit dedicated to renewable energy, SunWork Renewable Energy Projects. The panels themselves were donated by a NYSE-listed Chinese solar energy company, Jinko Solar, and will provide enough energy to power their building, appliances, computers, and lighting … basically everything RTP uses that needs electricity.

And when there’s more power than needed? RTP will be able to feed it into the electrical grid and sell it back to its local utility.

This sort of donation makes dollars and sense, Everybody Solar’s executive director Youness Scally says:

“For each dollar we raise, RTP will save $2.20, and each dollar RTP spends on home improvement makes a difference to a neighbor in need.”

This is just the start, according to Oh. Everybody Solar is looking for new projects, and is currently taking submissions via its website from nonprofit organizations that want to benefit from green energy, and reduce their carbon footprint. That will require extra funding, which Everybody Solar is raising in a variety of ways.

“We were considering using a Kickstarter-type model,” Oh told me. “But we have been successful at getting donations through other channels such as events, private donors, and public donations via our website.”

Everybody Solar’s next event will be in April in San Francisco, where they’ll enlist some star power to go with their sun powered principles. It’ll be Solar Rock Stars for a Cause, date to be determined.

photo credit: WagnerSolar via photopin cc

“Tonight, I propose we use some of our oil and gas revenues to fund an Energy Security Trust that will drive new research and technology to shift our cars and trucks off oil for good,” the president said.

There has been some progress already, Obama said, saying that four years ago, other countries dominated the clean energy market — and the jobs that come with it. Just one example is Germany, which has invested heavily in solar energy and has succeeding in powering up to half the country at times in the past year.

That foreign leadership of greentech is starting to change.

“Last year, wind energy added nearly half of all new power capacity in America,” Obama said.

President Obama

The technology industry has been leading the way. Google recently invested $200 million in a new wind energy project that brings the company’s total green power total to two gigawatts. Mobile rival Apple has also invested heavily in green energy, and CEO Tim Cook talked about its efforts today at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet conference

“I’m proud that we’re better at being environmentally friendly, and that we have the largest solar farm anywhere and can run our data center on renewable energy,” Cook said.

President Obama also wants to drive solar power, reduce the amount of power that is wasted by inefficient buildings.

Oil interests can take some comfort, perhaps in knowing that Obama also promised to “keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits.”

Here’s the full text of Obama’s comments on greentech:

Four years ago, other countries dominated the clean energy market and the jobs that came with it.  We’ve begun to change that.  Last year, wind energy added nearly half of all new power capacity in America.  So let’s generate even more.  Solar energy gets cheaper by the year – so let’s drive costs down even further.  As long as countries like China keep going all-in on clean energy, so must we.

In the meantime, the natural gas boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence.  That’s why my Administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits.  But I also want to work with this Congress to encourage the research and technology that helps natural gas burn even cleaner and protects our air and water.

Indeed, much of our new-found energy is drawn from lands and waters that we, the public, own together.  So tonight, I propose we use some of our oil and gas revenues to fund an Energy Security Trust that will drive new research and technology to shift our cars and trucks off oil for good.  If a non-partisan coalition of CEOs and retired generals and admirals can get behind this idea, then so can we.  Let’s take their advice and free our families and businesses from the painful spikes in gas prices we’ve put up with for far too long.  I’m also issuing a new goal for America: let’s cut in half the energy wasted by our homes and businesses over the next twenty years.  The states with the best ideas to create jobs and lower energy bills by constructing more efficient buildings will receive federal support to help make it happen.

photo credits: andjohan via photopin cc, jmtimages via photopin cc

As we round the corner into 2013, we’re more excited than ever about green tech — and so are Silicon Valley investors and entrepreneurs.

Years and months past saw some dimming of the enthusiasm around green tech and clean tech — think Solyndra’s devastating 2011 shutdown, A123′s recalls, or the numerous horror stories of consumers accidentally “bricking” spendy electric cars like Tesla’s Roadster or the Fisker Karma.

But with smart business ideas, ample venture capital, important partnerships, and better predictions about the future, 2012′s crop of innovations seem better suited to wear well over the next few years. Here are 10 of our favorite green tech stories from 2012 in ascending order. We hope to bring you more and better eco-forward tech news in 2013.

Greener packaging

It bothers all of us every time we unbox a new tech toy: Why all the plastic and Styrofoam for one slender little phone or laptop? At least one company, logistics giant PCH International, is focusing on fixing that problem, starting with Silicon Valley’s gadget packaging.

The story: “The company’s Sustainable Packaging Design Centre of Excellence will include a material library and a structural design engineering and quality test lab, and it’ll be based in Shenzhen, China. The company will also open a showroom and material library in San Francisco early in 2013, placing its services in closer reach of Silicon Valley companies — those that still make hardware products, that is, rather than Facebook games or iPhone apps.”

Greener gatherings

With conscientious young folks more concerned about their own impact on the environment, more large-scale music festivals and similar-in-scope gatherings, such as Coachella and Burning Man and far beyond, are focusing on their ecological footprint.

The story: “For three days in August, 60,000-plus hipsters each day pour into a handful of meadows, as thick and viscous as the fog itself. … The air surges with amplified guitar fuzz and obscenities from the mouths of performers, and you can almost feel the ground shake from the trampling feet of a herd of humanity. Then, when the three-day rock orgy is over, Golden Gate Park is miraculously returned to its original state. Pristine. Clean. … As though nothing had ever happened.”

LED revolution

LED lights are getting on our nerves as they’re being hastily incorporated into holiday decorations, but as everyday substitutes for incandescent bulbs, they’re doing great things for the planet.

The story: “Just in time for Earth Day, Dutch electronics company Philips is unveiling a new super energy-efficient light bulb today with a shelf life that should last about 25 years. The catch? It costs about $60, but Philips is said to have forged deals with some stores to bring that cost down to about $20.”

Record-breaking car battery

Electric cars have long been the domain of short-range enthusiasts, but a new battery developer brought fresh hope to an exciting industry.

The story: “‘We have built 400 watt-per-kilogram batteries, which have been considered the holy grail of electric cars,’ said Envia’s chief executive Atul Kapadia said in an interview with VentureBeat, ‘This is a milestone that many car companies have wanted to reach.”‘

Tata Nano

The Smart Car and its ilk — tiny, highly efficient autos — are starting to pop up in urban areas in the U.S., and this super-cheap model from overseas finally announced its American debut in 2012.

The story: “Tata Nano’s top speed of 65 mph and its cramped interior definitely will not appeal to all in spite of the success of the Austin Mini, Smart Cars, and the Fiat 500. Nano is two feet shorter than the Mini and decidedly bare-bones inside. Currently, the heater is optional in the base model, and it has no options for A/C or heated seats.”

The war for data-center efficiency

The companies that control the Internet are in a sort of arms face for efficiency — not only so they can toot their horns to consumers about how green they are, but also so they can cut their own costs and increase their bottom line profits. But this is one case where corporate money-chasing is actually a win-win for the companies and the planet.

The story: “It’s a bit naïve, a bit ‘kumbaya,’ to expect two titans viciously warring for revenue to come to a round table and collaborate on issues like innovative mobile tech and greener data centers. But somehow, without striking a blow, Facebook has managed to give Google a black eye. Perhaps, if only for PR purposes, it’s time for Google to get its ‘kumbaya’ back.”

Research makes the world go ’round

Some of the most exciting advances in green tech this year happened on the formative research front, where scientists explored turning algae into gasoline, making batteries from garbage, producing fuel from seaweed and E. coli, or even making cheap solar panels out of rusted metal.

The story: “For example, cuprous oxide (Cu2O) is a highly abundant but hard-to-dope semiconductor. ‘It’s time we put bad materials to good use,’ said physicist Alex Zettl. ‘Our technology allows us to sidestep the difficulty in chemically tailoring many earth abundant, non-toxic semiconductors and instead tailor these materials simply by applying an electric field.’”

SolarCity’s IPO

In the wake of several high-profile, taxpayer-subsidized failures, SolarCity’s initial public offering was a welcome balm to a bruised industry.

The story: “Trading started at $9.25 and by midday surpassed $12. … The stock took off. This is partly attributable to SolarCity chairman Elon Musk, along with fellow board member Draper Fisher Jurveston, indicating their intent to buy a significant portion of the shares.”

Greener homes with Nest

One of the year’s best green tech stories didn’t take place in the chilly halls of a massive data center or the production lines of a hybrid car manufacturer. Nest is the greening gadget for consumers’ homes, and in spite of significant obstacles, it came through 2012 with flying colors.

The story: “The new Nest thermostat is 20 percent thinner. Under the hood, the Nest now has 10 wires to support more systems — the new unit adds support for two-stage cooling, three-stage heating, heat pump emergency heating, and whole home humidifier and dehumidifiers. As you can see in the images below, Nest Labs has also tweaked the wire orientation to be circular, which the company says will make it easier to install.”

Tesla’s turning point

The famous Silicon Valley electric car maker finally hit a crucial turning point in 2012. Not only did its Model S win some critical acclaim from Motor Trend, but the company made perhaps its most significant announcement to date when it told us last month it would be ready for mass production in 2013.

The story: “Tesla is confident it can reach a production rate of 400 cars per week next month. In other words, in 30 days it will be producing more cars in one week than it did in all of the last quarter. That rapid ramp-up is key to the company’s success. In three more months, Tesla will deliver another quarterly report, and then we’ll learn whether its optimism is justified or just an empty promise.”

Image credits: BONNINSTUDIO/Shutterstock, calonda/Flickr, Jolie O’Dell/VentureBeat, Jolie O’Dell/Flickr, Zettl Research Group, jurvetson/Flickr

Trading started at $9.25 and by midday surpassed $12 and expectations. Yesterday, SolarCity lowered the price of its IPO to $8, down from the $13-$15 range set in November, raising $92 million. Initially, it hoped to surpass $200 million in its IPO. 

The stock, however, took off. This is partly attributable to SolarCity chairman Elon Musk, along with fellow board member Draper Fisher Jurveston, indicating their intent to buy a significant portion of the shares.

Tech IPOs have had mixed results this year. Consumer tech companies like Facebook and Yelp saw their stock go down after their IPOs, while enterprise companies such as Palo Alto Networks and Workday fared well in the public market. But U.S. green tech companies have had a rough year in 2012. The Bloomberg Global Large Solar Index (BISOLAR) of 17 companies declined 36 percent in 2012 as a global oversupply pushed down prices for solar panels by 28 percent.

SolarCity, on the other hand, benefits from cheaper solar panels because it is a financier and leaser, rather than manufacturer. Current clients include Stanford University, Walmart, Ebay, the U.S. Armed Forces, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Intel.

Shares debuted on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol SCTY. Underwriters for the deal include Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Needham & Company, and Roth Capital Partners.

Prior to the IPO, SolarCity raised a whopping $455 million in venture capital.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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Green tech company SolarCity has filed to raise $200 million for an initial public offering.

SolarCity provides clean energy services to homeowners, businesses, schools, nonprofits, and government organizations. The company strives to make the transition to cleaner energy as smooth as possible by providing support from start to finish. It examines its clients energy usage, identifies areas that can be improved, installs new systems, and continuously offers monitoring, customer service, and support.

SolarCity distinguishes itself from other solar companies because it is not a manufacturer. Instead, the business is based on financing and leasing rooftop solar panels.

“Our future success depends on our ability to raise capital from third-party fund investors to help finance the deployment of our residential and commercial solar energy systems,” SolarCity stated in its IPO filing. “In the past, we encountered challenges raising new funds, which caused us to delay deployment of a substantial number of solar energy systems for which we had signed leases or power purchase agreements with customers.”

Customers include Stanford University, the U.S. Armed Forces, the Department of Homeland Security, eBay, Intel, and Walmart.

Serial entrepreneur Elon Musk is the chairman of SolarCity (as well as Tesla Motors), which his Lyndon and Peter Rive founded in 2006. Musk owns around 30 percent of the company.

In addition to Musk, SolarCity has received investment from Draper Fisher Jurveston, Mayfield Fund, DBL Investors, Shea Ventures and others over the course of its funding history. In total, the SolarCity has raised a total of $455 million in venture capital.

Last year, Google also committed $280 million to finance solar installations in residential homes.

It is a tough climate out there for publicly traded solar companies. The Bloomberg Global Large Solar Index (BISOLAR) of 17 companies declined 36 percent in 2012 as a global oversupply pushed down prices for panels 28 percent. However, since SolarCity does not manufacture or sell panels, this could work in its favor.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Credit Suisse Group AG and Bank of America Corp. are leading the offering. Read the press release.

Does Solar fit in with your financial model?
The facts point towards a revision to common thinking about solar: There has been a dramatic drop in solar PV prices from $4.5/Watt in 2006 to $0.81/Watt ($1.01/Watt for non-Chinese products). In the past three years the average price of solar has gone down by 75%. This is not inclusive of the rebates and incentives still available in the US. From $0 down leases to paying for solar upfront, the market presents multiple options to “get with the program” and go solar. Yet, each option presents its own financial rewards and risk. As a business, you best understand your cash flow and business model. It’s important to work with solar companies to tailor a solution that is in line with your business model and financials.

Is your core business energy intensive?
Going for a solar solution for your business is an investment: it has returns. The more energy intensive your core business processes and activities, the greater the returns. For example, if you are data intensive IT firm with your own servers and the air-conditioning and ventilation required to keep the servers running at optimum levels, spending on solar may drastically reduce the energy footprint of your organization. Facebook, Cisco, eBay and Apple are just a few companies looking to power their data centers through solar.

Can you leverage Solar for strategic advantage?
Your organization’s strategic vision and direction should be the foremost factor in your decision to implement a solar solution. The cost savings created by solar allow for financial “play”, or, in other words, free up money for you to reuse strategically. This money can be reinvested in the company. For example, the money can be invested in growth through product development or in employee retention if you operate in an industry where capable human resources are hard to find. Finding strategic fit for solar within your business can mean competitive advantage over rivals through greater focus on your core business.

Stay tuned for a follow-up story tomorrow on how to maximize the impact of solar on your brand.

Nabeel Hussain is marketing manager at ClarySolar, a San Diego-based renewable energy company. He has over five years’ experience in product management and marketing strategy as well as a passion for technology and renewable energy.

[Top image credit: Paul Matthew Photography/Shutterstock]

The U.S. Department of Energy wants normal Americans to start using solar energy in their everyday lives. To that end, it’s just granted $2 million to Solar Mosaic, a sort of Kickstarter for solar projects.

Solar Mosaic is still in a quiet pre-launch period, but its projects have so far collected more than $350,000 in interest-free investments from 400 individuals, and the first five projects have together generated 73kW of clean solar energy (that’s more than half a million dollars’ worth of energy) and added more than 2,700 job hours for workers in areas such as Oakland, Calif., and the Navajo Nation in Arizona. The startup has a special focus on projects that are created and maintained by a community for that community’s own benefit.

“Polls have shown that the vast majority of Americans want to go solar,” states a Solar Mosaic rep on the company blog. At the same time, a number of trends—from dramatic declines in the physical costs of solar equipment to new financing models—are making solar financially competitive with fossil fuel-based sources of energy. So why do so many roofs still lack solar panels?”

“Financing is a major part of getting the cost of solar down,” said DOE Secretary Steven Chu at the solar energy summit where the grant was announced, noting that the department aims to make solar energy cost-competitive with other types of energy by the end of the decade. The DOE wants to slide the cost of solar energy down to less than $1 per watt by 2020.

Solar Mosaic also recently raised a $2.7 million round of funding from VCs. Together with the $2 million grant, the startup’s cash on hand will be used to expand and scale their clean-energy-crowdfunding model. Expanding beyond the sunny southwest and the Bay Area, Mosaic wants to get millions of Americans to fund solar projects (and create new jobs) in areas around the United States.

Solar Mosaic is headquartered in Oakland, Calif., and was founded in May 2009 by energy activists Billy Parish and Daniel Rosen, hacker/designer Arthur Coulston, and serial entrepreneur Steve Richmond.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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Solar company Nanosolar believes that solar panels don’t have to be heavy slabs. That’s why it developed a way to print solar cells as thin as a sheet of aluminum foil.

Nanosolar announced today it has raised $70 million in equity from new and existing investors OnPoint Technologies, Mohr Davidow Ventures, and Ohana Holdings. In the past, the company received investments from Reid Hoffman, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Benchmark Capital.

Nanosolar prints copper, indium, gallium, selenium and nanoparticle inks on to thin pieces of aluminum foil to create what it claims are the thinnest and cheapest solar panels in the world. Unlike the typical solar panel we’re used to seeing, Nanosolar doesn’t base its design on semiconductors — an approach it feels lowers the cost of production significantly.

Part of the allure of Nanosolar’s technology is that these thin solar cells can be added to other building structures, not just placed into a dedicated solar panel. Instead of mounting a large, thick solar panel on your roof, a solar cell could be attached to your existing roof shingles. Printed solar cells could also work their way on to windows or the sides of a house.

Founded in 2002, Nanosolar is based in San Jose, Calif. and has offices in Germany. The company has raised copious amounts of funding, including a $20 million round in 2007 and $300 million in 2008.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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Buddy.com grabs funding to build apps

Buddy.com is a “back-end-as-a-service” startup that provides a place for people to build mobile apps without server-side code. The company announced today it has raised $1.1 million in its seed funding from Transmedia Capital and Crestlight Venture Productions. Read more on VentureBeat: App-building platform Buddy.com grabs funding.

Mindshapes plays nice with new funding

Mindshapes offers several educational kids games for mobile devices. The company announced Wednesday it has raised $4 million in funding. Index Ventures, Richmond Park Partners, and existing investors participated in the round. Read more on VentureBeat: Child-development startup Mindshapes raises $4M for educational gaming.

SmartDigital’s ads want to play with you

Digital billboard and outdoor ad display company SmartDigital has raised $2.7 million in funding. The company makes interactive outdoor digital ad billboards and it has even added Groupon deals to its displays. Advantage Capital Partners led the round and Metropolitan Capital Bank is also participated. Read the press release here: Chicago-Based Startup smartDIGITAL Announces $2.7 Million in Series A Funding, Launches Elevate Digital Product Line.

Wappwolf beefs up its first round of funding

Wappwolf has added an additional $500,000 to its seed round, bringing the total to $1 million so far. The company has built Dropbox and Google Drive automators to create automatic tasks for files added to each cloud storage system.

InstaEDU closed a $1.1 million seed round

InstaEDU announced the close of its seed round for $1.1 million. The company provides video chat tutoring lessons for students at all levels. Led by The Social+Capital Partnership, the round also includes angel investors Bobby Yazdani, Dylan Smith, Todd Bradley, John Johnston and Nirav Tolia. Read the full press release here: Some exciting updates from the InstaEDU team.

Solar Mosaic raises $2.7M

According to an SEC filing, solar investing company Solar Mosaic has raised $2.7 million in funding. The company gets people to invest in rooftop solar power plants and investors get a return based on the energy produced from the solar panel. Read the SEC filing.

Couple playing video game image via Shutterstock

Apple released its 2012 Facilities Report today, revealing the company’s data center in North Carolina will be powered by America’s largest end user-owned solar array.

It’s easy to peg Apple as a villain these days, given the situation with workers in China manufacturing its products under unsafe and even inhumane conditions. But Apple wants you to see its good side too — the side that recycles, constructs energy efficient buildings, and uses solar energy.

The report shows the environmental impact of Apple’s retail stores, corporate buildings, and data centers. Apple’s Maiden, North Carolina, data center (pictured right) was built to be highly energy-efficient with a “white-cool” roof, the use of outside air to cool the facility at night, and power monitoring.

And coming later this year, a solar array — a group of solar panels — will help power the plant, taking it at least partially off-the-grid. Apple writes in the report that the 100-acre, 20-megawatt facility will generate 42 million kWh of clean, renewable energy each year. The facility has also earned LEED Platinum certification, the highest award for energy-efficient buildings.

At the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, Apple has saved 5 million kilowatt-hours by retrofitting buildings with window and roof coverings and installing energy efficient lighting, according to the report. The company has also implemented shuttle buses to encourage greener commutes and has taken steps to reduce the amount of food waste at its headquarters.

Apple points out that only two percent of its greenhouse gas emissions comes from its corporate facilities. The other 98 percent is a result of producing, shipping, and recycling Apple products. While its great that the company is doing what it can to make its buildings more energy efficient, it’s time Apple focuses its attention on making its manufacturing and shipping processes more environmentally friendly.

Solar array photo via Shutterstock

While the implosion of solar power company Solyndra has seemingly cast a shadow on the viability of the solar industry, that hasn’t stopped Google from investing $94 million in photovoltaic (generating power through solar radiation) projects in California.

Google says it’s investing the funds in four photovoltaic projects near Sacramento, Calif. which are being built by Recurrent Energy. The investment brings Google’s total clean tech portfolio to over $915 million. At this rate, Google’s clean tech investments will likely reach $1 billion within the next year.

“We’ve already committed to providing funding this year to help more than 10,000 homeowners install solar PV panels on their rooftops,” writes assistant Google treasurer Axel Martinez. “But this investment represents our first investment in the U.S. in larger scale solar PV power plants that generate energy for the grid — instead of on individual rooftop. These projects have a total capacity of 88 MW, equivalent to the electricity consumed by more than 13,000 homes.”

Google is making the investment together with KKR, which is today forming a new venture for solar projects, SunTap Energy. This will be KKR’s first clean tech investment in the U.S.

Solyndra ended up falling apart because it couldn’t compete with the falling solar panel prices from competitors. The company received a $535 million loan from the Department of Energy, a move that has undergone quite a bit of scrutiny over the past year. The failure of Solyndra is definitely a warning sign for the clean tech community, but hopefully more high-profile investments like Google’s will serve to rekindle excitement in clean tech, and specifically solar power.

In a conversation with Wired Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson today at the magazine’s third annual Business Conference, Gates said that one of the best aspects of nuclear power at the moment is its lack of innovation thus far, which leaves it ripe for disruption in the coming years.

When it comes to Japan’s current nuclear trouble, Gates pointed out that the Fukushima plant is an older second-generation reactor. Third-generation plants, as well as upcoming fourth-generation plants (which he’s also invested in), can easily avoid most of Fukushima’s problems — primarily because they have better ways of dealing with the afterheat that results after a nuclear plant shuts down. One third-gen design keeps a pool of water ready in the case of a plant shutdown, while fourth-gen designs have methods in place to avoid the afterheat problem completely.

Gates also points to software simulation, which helps new plants prepare for potential issues like the post-quake tsunami that shut down Fukushima. We need to use computer simulation because there is “no way humans can predict these things,” he said. Gates predicts that by 2030 we’ll have hundreds of new fourth-generation nuclear power plants on line.

But why stick with nuclear power in the first place? Gates pointed to nuclear’s “factor million” energy creation advantage over coal. And of course, nuclear doesn’t emit any CO2 waste either.

“We have to be safe, and be able to communicate that we are safe,” Gates said, referring to how we can change nuclear’s negative public image.

As for nuclear waste, Gates said that it’s a solvable problem, and it shouldn’t prevent us from deploying more nuclear reactors. He said that if the entire US was powered by nuclear, we’d still be able to safely store all of the waste. We should also consider how much of a problem a “miniscule storage area” of nuclear waste will be in the future if it’s clearly marked, and if we can easily move it in a thousand years, Gates said. He pointed to the nuclear plant designs favored by TerraPower, a company that Gates is also a major investor in, that create 1,000 times less waste than a typical nuclear plant.

As for other energy technologies, Gates said that we should be looking at all of them. He saw potential in solar technology, but only in large scale deployments. Gates called rooftop solar cells for homes “cute” — something that rich people can do, but that ultimately won’t solve our energy crisis. He also seemed completely unconvinced that hydrogen fuel will play any part in our future. Instead, we may be better off converting hydrogen into hydrocarbons that can be used in existing infrastructure.

Wind and solar stocks jump in wake of Japanese nuclear crisis. Shares of
clean energy equipment makers are rising as much as 27 percent for the second day in a row. Analysts speculate that the meltdown in Japan has permanently changed the value of nuclear for the worse.

Investments in US cleantech companies rose 46 percent to $5.1 billion in 2010. Research firm Clean Edge also said that cleantech investments made up 23 percent of all venture capital investments last year.

Veolia announces partnerships with startups. The environmental engineering company made the announcement at Cleantech Forum San Francisco. Among the partners: eco-friendly fertilizer company Ostera, software firm CoSMo, and design and marketing company Envolure.

Solar plant company BrightSource Energy raises its fundraising goal from $100 million to $125 million. The company has already brought in about $122.5 million in equity and options. The money from this round will be used for projects in the American southwest.

“There’s a tremendous pool of capital out there … a deep and liquid capital market for renewable projects,” solar developer Recurrent Energy’s CEO Arno Harris told VentureBeat recently. “The rub is that we’ve got some policy issues that may make it difficult to tap those markets.”

Last year, the Treasury investment tax credit grant program credited with spurring numerous wind and solar projects was granted a one-year reprieve after nearly being allowed to expire. Advocates breathed a sigh of relief when it was renewed, but the expiration date — this December — is just around the corner, leaving some developers racing to beat the deadline and showcasing how closely renewable energy and investment is tied to government support.

Even now, analysts and industry watchers worry about government incentive pullbacks in Europe. At the height of European subsidies, Germany came to represent about half of the world’s photovoltaic demand. But there was a solar boom-and-bust in Spain credited to overly generous government support, and there’s another one forecast for the Czech Republic. Germany is instituting cutbacks, and the U.K. is reportedly considering them too.

The industry has looked to demand from the U.S. and Italy to make up for the projected European shortfall, while top U.S. panel maker First Solar is looking to developing markets like India. The U.S. 30 percent investment tax credit for renewable projects is still in place, and the Treasury grant program — in effect at least for the rest of this year — makes those funds available faster and in cash. There’s also a “bonus depreciation” program of sorts that is expected to be enticing to investors.

“Large corporations that invest in solar projects in 2011 can effectively own a long-term revenue-generating asset with little or no permanent capital invested. This, coupled with the ITC (investment tax credit) cash grant extension, should catalyze a resurgence in the U.S. solar market in 2011,” says Ted Sullivan, Lux Research analyst.

So far over the past few months, the U.S. has seemed to be doing well. It’s attracting investment from companies that want to buy up demand, such as SolarCity’s purchase of groSolar on the East Coast, OCI’s purchase of solar developer Cornerstone and Chinese player LDK picking up a $33 million majority stake in Solar Power, Inc. In a statement about the purchase, OCI chief executive Kirk Shilling called North America “the most promising emerging solar market in the world where we expect solar capacity to grow five-fold over the next several years.”

“U.S. demand is more and more valuable given that the ITC cash grant was renewed, and subsidy cuts are hurting the markets in Europe – Germany in particular. The east coast installers are small operations with respectable pipelines, and most of the California-based players that we’ve spoken with are looking to expand there,” says Lux analyst Matthew Feinstein.

For developers like Silverado Power and Recurrent Energy, a top solar developer snapped up by Sharp last year for $305 million, any struggles felt by those trying to finance solar plants aren’t due to the availability of capital. In fact, many institutional investors are looking to invest tens of millions into projects, according to Reuters. The question of whether the Treasury grant program will be renewed, though, still hangs in the balance.

“Our business wouldn’t be destroyed if it didn’t happen,” Harris says, noting that many of Recurrent’s projects are in Canada. “But it would be a big disappointment. The U.S. is a big portion of our development pipeline.”

Solar financing and investment also hinges on the tax equity market, which calls for organizations — large companies, institutional investors, utilities — who have profits and thus a large tax bill they can offset by investing in a solar project. Solar leasing firm SunRun, for example, has raised hundreds of millions in tax equity from U.S. Bancorp and PG&E. The process of financing solar via tax equity is long and complex, though, and solar advocates have argued for other, more straightforward ways to entice investors and financing.

When the Treasury grant program looked in danger of dying last year, analysts said the tax equity market wouldn’t be enough to cover the shortfall of financing needed. Still, Nathaniel Bullard of Bloomberg New Energy Finance notes that the tax equity market is coming back — and indeed, appetite from institutional investors is returning as well. Wells Fargo committed $100 million to GCL’s solar projects last year, and SolarCity raised a $40 million fund from Citi.

For now, while the market is still chock full of incentives, developers are rushing to take advantage and kick off projects.

“As the year wears on, don’t be surprised to see projects taper off as the grant renewal comes into question yet again,” Feinstein says.

The effect and longevity of government subsidies is also a question hanging over the renewables IPO market this year. But one thing is clear — it’s an important part of renewable development, and represents an opportunity for policymakers.

“I think the industry has come so far in the past five years. We’re right at the point where the U.S. can play what its rightful role is,” Harris says. “We are the largest energy market. We should be the world’s largest renewable energy market.”

[Top image via U.S. Air Force, bottom image via Wikipedia Commons]

Transphorm unveils first product — The company unstealthed last month with $38 million backing from investors like Google Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, showing off technology that can save energy losses that happen when power is converted from one form to another (which happens in almost everything that uses electricity). It announced its first product today, power diodes based on its gallium nitride technology, which promises to cut energy waste by 20 percent. Transphorm is targeting markets in motor drives and solar inverters and hopes to one day make a solution that will create more efficient electric and hybrid cars.

App locates electric car chargers — Xatori has released the PlugShare iPhone app, which allows electric car owners to search for electric car charging stations. While electric carmakers like Nissan also offer charge-finding apps, this app is unique in that it allows people to share their own outlets with other electric car drivers.

First Solar no longer top panel maker — First Solar is king no more in solar panel production, at least for now. Chinese solar panel maker Suntech likely beat its 2010 production with 1.5 gigawatts of modules shipped, compared to First Solar’s 1.4 gigawatt (which still represented a nearly 30 percent increase from sales the year prior), according to Forbes. Suntech could pose a threat to First Solar in the future as it continues to cut costs and increase efficiency.

Here Enterprises may buy Texas solar firm — Renewable energy developer Here Enterprises is in talks to acquire an unnamed Texas solar firm, according to the San Antonio Business Journal. It is currently developing the Cycle Ranch wind energy project near San Antonio.

Solyndra star fades, admits to mistakes — Once-bright rooftop solar startup Solyndra (pictured) has had its share of troubles lately. After raising $1 billion, the company was forced to slash costs, close a factory and cancel an IPO. Now its $535 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy is under investigation by Congress. Its recent $75 million secured debt round forced several equity investors to convert their preferred equity into common stock, devaluing their holdings, according to VentureWire. Those investors were rushed into the round by the DOE to show the company still has investor support (and thus justify the loan), the article says, citing a source. Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison told the Wall Street Journal the company made the twin mistakes of expecting too much growth and not putting enough focus on market development.

Khosla says new biofuels IPO coming — Billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla’s Khosla Ventures has seen its investments in biofuels startups Amyris and Gevo result in public offerings in the past few months, and Khosla apparently expects one more to happen in the next four weeks or so, according to a transcript of a talk he gave at a recent conference. Earth2Tech bets the IPO will come from either KiOR or Coskata.

BMW wants to sell 30,000 electric cars a year — The luxury automaker recently launched an eco-friendly sub-brand of cars, which includes the i3 all-electric city car and the i8 plug-in hybrid sports car. The company plans to launch the i3 in 2013 and wants to sell 30,000 of the cars a year by 2014, Autoblog Green reports. Germany has been fretting about falling behind in the global automotive space as major players like Nissan and Chevrolet have moved to launch electric cars, according to the WSJ.

U.S. solar growth dependent on fundraising -- The U.S. solar industry could double its installations this year thanks to the economic recovery and momentum from the previous year, but a Reuters analysis found that solar’s reliance on subsidies could make investors wary. While panel costs continue to decline, the viability of government support for subsidies remains in question. Still, investors seem to have a healthy appetite for large solar projects. The current tax equity market is not sufficient for demand from solar project developers in need of financing. The industry would likely need to raise about $10 billion to reach forecasted supply of 1.6 gigawatts this year.

Samsung to develop electric car batteries for U.S. market – The Korean electronics manufacturer will develop advanced batteries for electric cars through a joint development partnership with the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium, which consists of GM, Ford and Chrysler. The company expects its electric vehicle battery sales to expand through the venture and expects to put in half of the $8.4 million needed for the project.

Nexterra Systems raises $15M for biomass power — The Candian company raised the cash from ARC financial and Tandem Expansion Fund. It makes small-scale biomass gasification systems that generate renewable heat and power systems. The company’s clients include the U.S. Department of Energy and Johnson Controls.  It also has strategic relationships with GE and Johnson Controls. The cash will go towards market expansion.

Johnson Controls buys EnergyConnect for $32 million — Building energy efficiency company Johnson Controls will buy smart grid company Energy Connect for $32.3 million. The transaction is expected to close in July. Energy Connect specializes in a demand response technology, which helps companie cut their peak-time energy use and save money. Utilities with demand response programs also offer financial incentives for participation.

Better Place teams with Renault for electric car battery swaps – Electric car infrastructure startup Better Place opened today a center in Europe with its partner Renault, which makes the Renault Fluence Z.E. (pictured), an electric sedan. Better Place is unusual among other startups in that it offers battery swap stations, which allow users to swap out a depleted electric car battery for a fully-charged one — other companies like Ecotality and Coulomb offer charging stations. The Copenhagen, Denmark facility offers a subscription service with five fixed-price packages based on kilometers driven for Fluence Z.E. drivers. For 40,000 kilometers (about 25,000 miles) driven, an “all you can drive” option costs 399 euros a month, or about $557 a month. Other options include $278 to $348 per month packages. The Fluence Z.E. with Better Place mobility packages are expected to be available in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Suntech still sees brisk European business – Despite cutbacks in government subsidies, solar panel manufacturer Suntech says it will sell half its production this year in Europe, Reuters reports. The company does forecast a global oversupply of solar panels this year, but sees it as a temporary situation. Half of its production last year also went to Europe, and Suntech expects that number to only drop slightly.

Enphase expands to Europe — The top solar microinverter company has expanded with its first European offices in France and Italy. The company has made more than 20,000 installations and shipped 500,000 units of its solar system equipment in North America, and says its expansion is aimed at capturing a share of the global inverter market. Europe is the world’s largest solar market, but there’s been some concern lately about government subsidy cutbacks there. Enphase says France, Italy and the Benelux region are gaining momentum in solar installations and are poised to rapidly adopt microinverters rather than the traditional larger, centralized inverter systems. Inverters convert energy generated by solar systems into usable energy for the grid, and microinverters — a hot area lately — accomplish the same thing, but more efficiently.

Amprius raises $25 million for next generation batteries — The company says the cash will go to commercialize what it says will be the next generation of lithium-ion batteries, signing on major new investors like Google CEO Eric Schmidt and venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers. Amprius is looking to commercialize high energy, silicon-based materials to for batteries that it says will offer a “dramatic increase” in energy,  range and runtime for consumer electronics and electric vehicles.

Coda aims to sell 50,000 electric cars by 2015 — The clean-wheeling startup recently hired a new chief executive and former GM executive Phil Murtaugh, who told reporters of its lofty sales goals for its electric sedan. While there’s been some skepticism about the car’s potential given a high price tag compared to the similar and better-known Nissan Leaf, Coda has said in the past it wants to sell 14,000 cars in the first year of production, targeting fleets for around 40 percent of the sales.

Powerit raises $5 million — The company said today it had raised a new round of cash and appointed a new CEO. The round was led by Black Coral Capital with the participation of four pre-existing investors. Powerit makes an energy management system that connects buildings to smart grid applications like controls for lighting, HVAC, peak load reduction and energy efficiency.

Morgan Solar to raise $20-$25 million — The Canadian company is looking to use the cash to help build a lens manufacturing facility in California with 5.5 megawatts of capacity, Earth2Tech writes. Morgan Solar makes concentrating solar modules, which are still somewhat of a niche area of solar that involves the use of magnifiers or lenses to concentrate sunlight to create higher-efficiency solar panels. One CPV maker, Soliant, has reportedly suspended operations.

Rolls-Royce shows off electric car – The Phantom 102EX Experimental Electric (pictured) was unveiled today at the Geneva Motor Show, Green Car Reports writes. The luxurious vehicle is a prototype to test consumer interest, and the company has not committed to commercial production.

[Image via Green Car Reports]

Yup, that’s right. The country’s oil minister confirmed Saudi Arabia’s solar ambitions last year and said the country has the potential to export power, not just oil. So far it seems to be moving on that promise. The Saudi Arabia-South Korea joint venture Polysilicon Technology Co. said this week it had signed a $380 million deal to build a $1.5 billion plant for manufacturing polysilicon, which is used in solar panels.

Saudi Arabian solar, however, looks like it’s a part of an overall oil strategy. The country wants to diversify its energy portfolio with solar and nuclear. By reducing its need to burn oil for electricity, it can preserve more oil for money-making exports, Reuters writes.

A handful of foreign companies have moved on solar opportunities in Saudi Arabia so far. Last year, SolFocus announced it would build the first and largest concentrated photovoltaic solar system in Saudi Arabia, delivering around 300 megawatt-hours of energy. Japanese thin-film solar company Solar Frontier will also provide 10 megawatts in a solar installation for a car park.

While renewable energy enthusiasts and companies often talk about cleantech as a way to end use of oil and fossil fuels, Saudi Arabia’s approach shows that in reality, the two are becoming complementary.

In fact, solar is being used to extract oil. This week GlassPoint said using solar to generate steam had become economical enough that the company was deploying it at its oilfields, where solar-generated steam is pumped into wells to help extract oil. BrightSource Energy is also deploying a similar solar steam approach at a Chevron oilfield, where it is expected to lower the cost of generating steam and thus result in cheaper oil, Greentech Media reports.

The renewable-fossil fuels crossover stretches to the area of energy efficiency. Other companies that have won investment lately aim to make the extraction and refining of fossil fuels more efficient. NEOS GeoSolutions, which has the backing of Bill Gates and Goldman Sachs, uses geophysical sensors and data analysis to determine the best areas to drill for oil and natural gas. (The use of sensors and data analysis is becoming increasingly common and important in the area of energy efficiency and management among cleantech companies). Rive Technologies makes oil-refining catalysts that help refiners squeeze more yield out of crude oil, and the technology could one day be applied to biofuels.

1366 raises $28.4 million for cheaper wafers – Silicon wafer startup 1366 has raised $28.4 million in capital from investors that include GE Energy Financial Services, VantagePoint Venture Partners and Hanwha Chemical. It is an $8 million addition to $20 million raised last year.  The company can directly convert molten silicon to wafers, which reduces costs, waste and time compared to slicing wafers off an ingot of silicon. Wafers are used to build solar panels.

Volvo debuts three-in-one hybrid car — The automaker will be showing off a concept car (pictured) that combines electric, hybrid and diesel options at an auto show in Geneva, Autopia writes. The Volvo V60 plug-in hybrid with three modes, “pure,” “hybrid” and “power.” In “pure” mode, an electric motor drives the rear wheels for about a 30-mile range. On hybrid, the car gets an 125 miles per gallon equivalent and a 745-mile range. And in “power” mode, the car can go from zero to 62 miles per hour in 6.9 seconds with diesel and electric motors powering the car.

Soliant suspends solar operations – The firm raised $29 million in venture funding for its concentrating solar modules, but has now laid off most of its full-time staff and suspended operations while it looks for an acquirer, Greentech Media reports, noting the firm has received backing from Nth Power, GE Energy Financial Services and Rockport Capital. The company has reportedly failed to raise any additional funding. Soliant had focused on concentrating  solar systems, which use mirrors or lenses to magnify and strengthen the sun’s power.

Warren Buffet’s company becomes top wind utility — The billionaire investor and CEO of holding company Berkshire Hathaway has been investing in wind power via his MidAmerican utility. It has now become the top utility in the U.S. for wind, Treehugger reports. The company has put $5.4 billion towards wind projects and had 2,909 megawatts of wind generation in operation by the end of 2011, according to Buffet’s annual letter to shareholders

Honeywell to develop China smart grid project – The company has been selected to develop China’s first smart grid pilot project. It will assess the systems and plan for a smart grid implementation, and also study demand management and building energy management. The news comes as more and more major companies and even venture capital firms look for ways to gain a toehold in the nation’s booming energy market and growing cleantech segements.

Genomatica raises $45 million — The cash will go towards demonstration-scale production and early commercialization plans for a green version of butanediol (BDO), a chemical used in spandex, automotive plastics and running shoes. In this round, the company’s fourth, Genomatica signed on new investors VantagePoint Venture Partners, which was the largest investor in the round, Bright Capital, and Waste Management (which also holds stakes in biofuels startup Enerkem and has a partnership with Genomatica to research chemicals that can be created from synthetic gas, or “syngas”, captured at landfills). Existing investors joined the new round: Alloy Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Mohr Davidow Ventures and TPG Biotech.

Solyndra raises $75 million in credit facility – The solar manufacturer’s latest round of financing to shore up its capital needs come in the form of a secured credit facility underwritten by existing investors. The company makes cylindrical solar rooftop systems and is a now-controversial recipient of a $535 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy. The company’s president and CEO Brian Harrison released a statement today that said the company’s annual revenues topped $140 million last year, and is seeing growth in U.S. and European markets. Solyndra has shipped nearly 100 megawatts of panels and expects to reach an installed system cost-of-goods sold price of about $2 per watt in the first quarter of 2013. It has also finished construction of its second factory; the company closed its first facility last year.

GlassPoint drills for oil with solar — The oil recovery company uses solar panels to generate steam (pictured), which is then pumped into wells to help extract oil. GlassPoint says prices of the system are now attractive enough that it is using the solar-powered system for economic reasons rather than environmental ones, CNET reports.

Audi to offer electric car and hybrid options — The company is reportedly working on a successor to its A2 all-aluminum hatchback, and will offer electric and plug-in hybrid options on the vehicle once released, Green Car Reports writes.

U.K. considers solar subsidy cuts — The U.K. government is looking at cutting solar incentives and project sizes over concerns that the attractive incentives in place through April 2012 may lead to an oversupply of solar projects, Bloomberg reports. Some European countries are looking to trim solar incentives to avoid the boom and crash of solar that happened in Spain, and a similar solar bust is expected to happen in the Czech Republic. The world’s largest solar market, Germany, recently decided to cut its subsidies by 15 percent starting in July.

Reno sets up turbine experiment — The Nevada city, home to strong winds, has set up nine wind turbines around the city and is measuring how they perform compared to manufacturer’s claims, the WSJ reports. Instruments will measure wind speed and energy production, and the data will be made publicly available online. The city wants to make the information on performance and cost of maintenance and repairs available publicly, which is also expected to help Reno residents figure out what wind turbines and Reno locations take the best advantage of Nevada winds.

Today, investment firm BlackRock and European renewables company NTR said they would team up to launch a new renewable power investment group. NTR’s CEO Jim Barry will take the role of chief investment officer on the BlackRock Alternative Investors platform, which currently manages over $110 billion in a range of assets. BlackRock recently led a $30 million investment round for biofuels company LS9.

Last week, investment firm Silver Lake said it would team with George Soros’s fund to invest in energy. The new fund will be led by veterans of Foundation Capital and the Department of Energy. BMW announced a $100 million venture fund for transportation innovation and application at the same time it announced a new brand of eco-friendly cars. Venture capital firm Accel Partners is currently looking to raise $2 billion in new funds and is looking to invest part of the proceeds in energy companies in China.

Cleantech raked in $243 billion in investment worldwide last year. In the U.S., the sector drew $7.8 billion in venture capital last year, but fundings slowed in the second half of the year, and venture capital fundraising is at an all-time low since 2003. Still, institutional investors seem to have appetite for the sector. Last year, financial services TIAA-CREF pledged to invest $50 million alongside venture capital investments made by investment firm Good Energies in the areas of energy efficiency and green building technology. Citi recently committed $40 million for financing solar projects by SolarCity.

NTR has worked on a number of projects globally in solar, wind and biofuels. One of its companies is Tessera Solar, which uses solar technology developed by its sister company, Stirling Energy. Tessera has recently been through a rough bout with its California solar projects, which were both ultimately sold off after court-ordered delays and the cancellation of a power purchase agreement from Southern California Edison. The company’s investments in Stirling and the delays associated with rolling out its technology have led NTR’s solar division to lose €73.8 million (about $102 million) in the six months ended September 2010, Earth2Tech notes.

[Image via Fotopedia]

Oregon geothermal project wins $96.8 million loan guarantee – The Department of Energy has finalized a loan guarantee to a project sponsored by U.S. Geothermal. The funds will go to back the construction of a 23 megawatt geothermal power project in southeastern Oregon, known as Neal Hot Springs.

Germany cuts solar subsidies by 15 percent — The cuts came six months earlier than planned, according to Reuters. The solar industry has long been jittery about German plans to reduce subsidies. Its generous incentives for solar project allowed the country to make up nearly half of last year’s global demand for photovoltaic panels.

HelioVolt could be acquired — The venture-backed thin-film firm based in Austin, Tex. is “in discussion to be acquired,” according to a company executive who spoke with Greentech Media. The executive, Iga Hallberg, referred to Fortune 100 companies that are interested in buying HelioVolt and said they expect to make an announcement in “a matter of weeks.” The company recently raised $8.5 million through the sale of debt securities and was looking to raise another $1.5 million, according to SEC filings.

First Solar looks for growing markets – The company released its fourth quarter 2010 earnings yesterday that showed declining sales and said it was looking to expand to new and developing markets like India, China, Australia and the Middle East, Earth2Tech writes. Demand in Europe has been expected to slow this year due to cutbacks in government subsidies that previously drove demand, though some have argued stronger than expected demand in the U.S. and Italy will make up for it, at least for the first quarter of the year.

Ethanol support could fall in national budget cuts — Ethanol supporter and congressman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said he would be willing to “bite the bullet” and allow ethanol supports to fall if it was necessary to cut down the national deficit. In particular, a bill circulating the Senate would bar the EPA from increasing the percentage of ethanol in gasoline and offering subsidies for gas stations retrofitted to sell E15 (15 percent ethanol), Autoblog Green writes.

Accel Partners is planning to raise $2 billion in new funds and invest more broadly into energy opportunities in China, VentureBeat has learned, even as Peter Wagner, the man who led its cleantech efforts, is leaving the company.

The venture capital firm behind investments like Facebook and Groupon is looking to raise $1 billion for two China funds, one for early-stage investments, the other for later-stage opportunities. With those funds, Accel is eying opportunities in light-emitting diodes, the smart grid, clean transmission and solar photovoltaic materials in China. It is also looking to raise another $1 billion in two funds for the U.S., one for early-stage investments, one growth-oriented.

This makes the timing of Wagner’s exit strange. Wagner (pictured above), a partner at the firm, was behind Accel’s investment in star energy efficiency company Opower, and is leaving for undisclosed reasons, which PEHub first reported. But just last month, he spoke to Venture Capital Journal about how he will lead the firm’s new efforts to ramp up investment in cleantech. Wagner’s assistant told us he is traveling. We’ve reached out to him via email and will update if we hear back.

[Update: Wagner emailed us back, saying he was proud of his 15-year career at Accel and looks forward to continuing to work with the companyand its investors and entrepreneurs. He declined to go into detail about his future plans, but said this: "As you know, Accel will be raising significant new capital this year. The timing of my move is a function of the natural discussions about team lineup and long-term commitments that arise when a venture firm is preparing to raise new funds." Wagner is now listed under under the company's "venture development team" section]

An Accel spokesperson wished Wagner well and gave us this statement: “We continue to invest in cleantech, albeit with a high bar and focus on companies in B2C [business-to-consumer] and software. Companies such as SunRun and Opower are great examples of this.”

Accel’s interest in China says a great deal about where investors see the next big cleantech opportunities. With its booming population and economic heft, China is shaping up to be a major player in the global cleantech scene, fueled in part by billions in government support for the smart grid, electric cars and solar companies. In fact, Chinese subsidies for solar makers there have forced Silicon Valley’s solar startups to scramble to compete with lowered prices.

Last year, VantagePoint opened a $100 million fund just for energy related investments in China. Today, private equity firm Silver Lake said it would partner with George Soros’s fund for energy and resource-related investments — and they’ll operate out of Silicon Valley and China.

Accel is best known for its high-profile tech investments in companies like Facebook, Groupon, Diapers.com and Etsy. But the company has backed successful cleantech startups SunRun, a solar financing company, and Opower, which specializes in energy efficiency and energy management software-as-a-service. It also has invested in Fusion-io, a solid state storage company reportedly going for a $100 million public offering.

Accel already has investments in China, and some along the energy and cleantech sector. For example, it has invested in Chinese thin-film solar maker GS-Solar and LED chipmaker Wu Han HC SemiTek Co.

Venture capital fundraising overall is at a new low since 2003, but Accel appears to be doing well thanks to its track record on the aforementioned investments. It has also been expanding lately, with a new East Coast office and the hiring of six new investment professionals, one of whom is the former chief executive of eHarmony, the online dating site.

[Top image via PhotoEverywhere]

Solar cell company Solyndra is at the front of this. There’s a planned Congressional investigation to evaluate whether Solyndra was an appropriate candidate for the $535 million loan guarantee it received. Since winning the loan guarantee, the company has laid off workers, cancelled an IPO and closed down its first factory.

Range Fuels and the government’s support of biofuels was criticized in a WSJ editorial this month. Venture capitalist and Range Fuels backer Vinod Khosla has penned strong responses to the editorial. While the WSJ piece said Range received $76 million in DOE grants only to produce lackluster results and close down a factory, Khosla said the company only took half of that amount and argues Range is making progress. He also pointed out that the government heavily subsidizes the oil industry.

Loan guarantees to electric car startups Tesla ($465 million) and Fisker ($529 million) have also been criticized in the past. One argument is that these companies have been able to successfully raise cash from private investors, so they don’t need taxpayer support. And now that Tesla is a publicly traded company, is it appropriate for taxpayers to keep supporting its operations? Fisker could be a target, too. It has experienced several delays in releasing and producing its luxury plug-in hybrid, and has raised the planned price of the Fisker Karma by 20 percent over the past few years. Fisker has attributed the delays to the 2008 financial crisis. The car will go into production in March; Fisker raised $150 million this month and has an IPO in its sights.

Still, startups are always risky ventures, and ups, downs, delays and mistakes are inevitable as companies try to move into commercial production. Loan guarantees do boost companies and help them receive more favorable financing terms than they would otherwise, lessening some of the obstacles to success startups face. DOE loan guarantees are meant to subsidize areas that have “transformative” potential and need government backing to prove their value to the market and investors. In the case of solar and electric cars, loan guarantees typically go towards manufacturing facilities, as was the case in the recent loan guarantees to solar makers SoloPower ($197 million) and Abound Solar ($400 million).

DOE loan chief Jonathan Silver came out in support for Solyndra when we talked to him last year. He pointed out that Solyndra was planning to close the factory, it just happened sooner than intended. Solyndra has not been granted any loan funds and is reportedly on track to produce 300 megawatts of panels annually, which is higher than the 210 megawatts estimated at the project inception.

We asked the DOE for a response on the scrutiny on Solyndra lately, and here’s the statement provided by the press office:

“The Department of Energy conducts extensive and ongoing monitoring for all projects that receive loan guarantees. The loan guarantee for Solyndra is supporting the construction of a manufacturing facility which is well underway, and is, in fact, 4-8 weeks ahead of schedule. To date, the company has hired 3,000 construction workers and over 1,000 employees to fill permanent positions. We anticipate the project will continue as planned, however, we take our responsibility to protect taxpayer interests very seriously, and will continue to work with Solyndra to find appropriate solutions to any challenges it may face.”

The investigation into the Solyndra loan guarantee is being spearheaded by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Upton sent a letter to DOE Secretary Steven Chu asking for documents related to the Solyndra decision. The letter outlines Solyndra’s lack of profits (which is the case for most startups), and also points to an audit that pointed out the company’s shakiness and ultimately contributed to Solyndra yanking its IPO plans last year.

The audit is an interesting point. Although Solyndra’s technology — racks of tubular solar cells — seems genuinely innovative (see the greenhouse roofing application, right), it seems to have vastly underestimated its capital needs and overestimated what it could deliver. A PricewaterhouseCooper audit last year ahead of its IPO plans found massive losses and negative cash flow since the company’s founding, as well as mounting debt that could bury operations within a year. The company appeared to be running out of money five years into the business despite raising $970 million. After cancelling the IPO, Solyndra opted to raise $175 million through promissory notes instead.

[Top image via OpenPhoto]