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DOE-backed Abound Solar to shut down
UPDATED: It’s time to write the obituary for another solar startup: Abound Solar, a thin film startup which secured a $400 million loan guarantee from U.S. Department of Energy to expand production, is...
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Using electricity rate data to sell solar
Turns out the path to winning over solar customers is through integrating a lot of data. San Francisco startup Genability began knitting together a collection of complex electric rates from utilities...
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DOE funds 19 next-gen battery projects with $43M
Primus Power’s flow battery The Department of Energy’s program that gives grants to early-stage energy projects — called ARPA-E — has allocated another $43 million for 19 battery projects, including...
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California’s pioneering energy storage mandate moves forward
California is moving ahead with what could be a precedent-setting mandate to require its utilities to invest in energy storage systems and services, which are meant to complement the growing amount of...
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Introducing an ultra low cost, long lasting battery made of water and blue dye
What if you could create a battery using water as the electrolyte (one of the key building blocks of batteries)? Its materials could be as cheap and plentiful as, well, water. That was the question...
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Energy innovation rockstar, former ARPA-E Director, to join Google.org
The former Director of the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program, Arun Majumdar, will be joining Google’s philanthropic arm Google.org. Majumdar will “drive Google.org’s energy initiatives and advise...
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Audit reveals some mismanagement of smart grid demonstration stimulus funds
Over three years ago the Department of Energy allocated around $4.5 billion in stimulus funds for smart grid projects in the U.S. That included $700 million for demonstration projects that helped...
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Why First Solar is buying a silicon solar cell startup no one’s heard of
First Solar is buying an under-the-radar startup called TetraSun to add expertise around silicon solar cell manufacturing to its technology portfolio, which until now has focused on using the material...
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Fisker green-car government loan heads to auction block
The Department of Energy — which loaned now-faltered electric car maker Fisker $192 million to build cars and a factory — will start looking at bids on Friday to sell off the remainder of its loan to...
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The DOE’s early stage program to award $27M for 14 efficient grid electronics...
The U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program — which allocates small grants to early stage, high risk technologies — has launched a new project focused on efficient power grid electronics. Say wha?...
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Cleantech apocalypse? No, but it’s cyclical
The cries declaring a cleantech armageddon are coming keep on getting louder. But I don't think cleantech is headed for a sharp crash. It's been going through consolidation for some time now, and the...
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Aptera raises $2.25M in debt, restructuring
Three-wheeled electric-car startup Aptera has already delayed the launch of its car and has discussed restructuring and moving its manufacturing out of California. But it looks like the company is not...
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House committee to subpoena OMB over Solyndra documents
The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a resolution on Thursday to move forward with a subpoena for the Office of Management and Budget to get access to documents about the Department of...
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DuPont buys solar ink maker Innovalight
DuPont announced on Monday that it has bought Innovalight, a Silicon Valley startup that makes silicon ink that solar-cell makers can use to improve the amount of electricity that the cells can squeeze...
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First Solar: Huge drop in Q2 earnings, but expect a rebound
First Solar posts a huge slide in earnings Tuesday but promises to do better for the remainder of the year. The solar panel maker and project developer is counting on India and North America to become...
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No DOE loan guarantee for KiOR, at least not this year
There will be no loan guarantee for recently public biofuel company KiOR, at least this year. According to correspondence with the SEC, KiOR put its application for 2011 on hold in May, with plans to...
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Despite struggles, next-gen biofuels continue to find funding
Despite the lack of results, next-gen biofuel companies continue to receive a significant amount of both government and VC support. At what point will the funding transform into advanced biofuels being...
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The story behind Solyndra’s rise and fall
Solyndra just became a high-profile casualty of the youthful solar industry as Solyndra failed to compete successfully against larger solar rivals in a global market that depends heavily on government...
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PHOTOS: Solyndra, a walk down memory lane
For the past four years I've been covering solar company Solyndra's events, including its ground-breaking ceremony, and a more recent factory tour. Here are some of my photos from the past few years....
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Calisolar ditches loan guarantee, lands in Mississippi
Solar silicon and cell maker Calisolar has ditched a $275 million federal loan guarantee to build a factory in Ohio, but the company still has a manufacturing plan. It says it has secured a $75.25...
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FBI investigates Solyndra, searches company’s HQ
Solyndra's woes continue. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is searching Solyndra’s headquarters this morning, though it declined to say what it’s looking for. FBI investigates Solyndra, searches...
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Solyndra hearing: Did the loan restructuring break the law?
Was the restructuring of Solyndra's loan earlier this year, which was done by the DOE and subordinated government funds to private investors funds, against the law? Republicans suggested as much during...
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First Solar, SunPower move ahead on solar farms
Amidst intense scrutiny of the Department of Energy's loan guarantee program via the Solyndra scandal, September has still emerged as critical for a series of solar companies that hope to close federal...
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10 ways to deal with cybersecurity in a smart grid world
The U.S. Department of Energy released a report Thursday that aims to help public and private sectors figure out ways to protect the grid against cybersecurity breaches. Here's 10 ways to deal with...
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The military: where the future of cleantech lies
The future of cleantech may depend more on the work of our military than climate change talks. The Pew Charitable Trusts released a report on Wednesday that showed the U.S. Defense Department’s...
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The danger of politicians backing high risk startups
In light of the news that Republican Representative Darrell Issa once called for Department of Energy support for now-struggling electric car maker Aptera, I'm resurfacing my essay on the danger of...
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First Solar won’t get loan guarantee for $1.9B project
Solyndra’s bankruptcy has shined a harsh spotlight on a federal loan guarantee program, and that spotlight now includes a company that's in better financial health than Solyndra. First Solar announced...
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SolarCity says Solyndra fallout killed its loan guarantee
On Friday, the DOE announced the closing of three loan guarantees, but also said solar installer SolarCity won’t be securing a loan guarantee for a military solar housing project. SolarCity said they...
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What the clean power industry needs: more lobbying
Is the clean power industry not doing enough to win political support in the nation’s capital? While Solyndra has gotten flack for its significant lobbying efforts, the reality is that the industry...
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The Solyndra cloud descends on cleantech
There is no escaping the dark spell cast by Solyndra’s bankruptcy in cleantech discussions these days. At two cleantech conferences in San Francisco this week, speakers gave their takes on the impact...
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DOE’s new No. 2 on Solyndra: It’s about cheap Chinese financing
The DOE's new No. 2, Richard Kauffman, started his job on the Tuesday after the Solyndra announcement. He sees Solyndra as an example of cheap Chinese financing, which is behind the decline in Chinese...
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5 bets the DOE made that are better than Solyndra
It's been over a month since the Solyndra news came out, but it's still dominating. Because it just won't go away, here's my top five list of projects that the DOE also backed with loan guarantees and...
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In wake of Solyndra, DOE Loan Chief to step down
As the failure of now-defunct solar panel maker Solyndra continues to make headlines, the Department of Energy's Loan Chief Jonathan Silver plans to step down. Silver will become a Distinguished...
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Funding FAIL: The federal budget, politics and cleantech
Fighting for funding is a perennial, bloody sport for just about every federal agency. But the budget funding cycle is seriously out of whack with the development cycle for clean energy, according to...
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And the next Solyndra is . . . Beacon Power
Flywheel maker Beacon Power declared bankruptcy on Sunday after winning a $43 million loan guarantee from the DOE in the summer of 2009. This is the second company to declare bankruptcy that had a loan...
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Fisker won’t ramp up production of Karma until Q2 2012
Electric vehicle startup Fisker Automotive has dramatically scaled back production plans of its first car, the Karma, in the fourth quarter of 2011, and it won't ramp up to full production until the...
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Obama’s 1M electric car goal could be difficult
I look at the numbers for whether the DOE and Obama will be able to meet the goal of putting 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. Obama’s 1M electric car goal could be difficult originally...
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Bankrupt flywheel maker Beacon to sell plant to pay back DOE
Beacon Power, the flywheel maker that filed for bankruptcy last month after winning a $43 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy, announced on Saturday that it plans to sell its 20 MW...
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SolarCity lines up $350M loan for massive military solar project
The big question for SolarCity when it didn't secure a federal loan guarantee for an ambitious project a few months back was this: could it carry on with the plan? The answer is yes. SolarCity will get...
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Photos: Behind the scenes of Alta Devices’ solar pilot line
Solar startup Alta Devices, backed by investors such as Kleiner and Dow Chemical, gives us a tour of its new pad in Silicon Valley where it's setting up a pilot production line to make gallium-arsenide...
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Hyperion to build nuclear pod at DOE test site
Hyperion Power Generation plans to build one of its first modular nuclear devices at the Department of Energy's Savannah River test site in South Carolina. Are modular nuclear reactors on their way?...
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How a natural gas van came to market with a DOE loan (shocking!)
A year after the Vehicle Production Group (VPG) closed a $50 million Department of Energy loan for designing a natural gas vehicle, the company used the money as planned, began production and is seeing...
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How federal money will spur a new breed of big data
By pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into big data research and development, the Obama administration thinks it can push the current state of the art well beyond what's possible today, and into...
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Report: The clean power cash grant program was working
A new report out of the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Labs says that the $9 billion clean power cash grant program (formally called the 1603 grant program), which expired at the end...
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GridNavigator crunches data to forecast energy use
The ability to predict energy use and do something about it will become more important as businesses look for ways to reduce costs and use energy more efficiently. A startup called GridNavigator has...
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An accelerator lab for battery startups launches
Can the startup accelerator model work for battery companies? The folks behind CalCharge, the brainchild of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and California Clean Energy Fund (CalCEF) that hopes to...
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This startup’s energy gadget could make rooftop solar cheaper & more controlled
A Virginia startup is using federal grants to develop a device that will cut solar home installation cost while helping the local utility monitor and even control electricity generation from the roofs...
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A conversation with the U.S. Energy Secretary on energy innovation and the...
A year and a half after taking the lead at the Department of Energy, Ernie Moniz reflects on changes to the loan programs, and how the government and Silicon Valley can fund energy innovation. A...
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Despite years of Solyndra hand wringing, DOE loan program is now profitable
Is the ghost of Solyndra finally dead? Despite years of Solyndra hand wringing, DOE loan program is now profitable originally published by Gigaom, © copyright 2014. Continue reading…
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Energy Department opens up $125M for energy innovation
A program within the Department of Energy, called ARPA-E, has opened up $125 million to fund various technology and science projects that are “transformational” for energy, whether that’s for clean...
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