Google has long had an interest in renewable energy and has now invested more than $1 billion of its own money in alternative energy projects. However, as the company notes in a blog post and white paper today, it’s not always easy for companies that want to buy renewable energy to do so, given that most utilities don’t yet offer a renewable power option yet. In its white paper, Google… → Read More
Google just announced yet another major investment in renewable energy. The company says that it has made a $200 million equity investment in an existing wind farm in Oldham County Texas. The Spinning Spur Wind Farm currently produces about 161 MW and uses 70 Siemens turbines to generate enough power for about 60,000 U.S. homes. EDF Renewable Energy will manage the project and will remain the… → Read More
A Cambridge, England cleantech company, Enecsys, closed a £25 million ($41 million) series B round which the company plans to use to take its solar microinverter technology to more international markets including Canada and the U.S.
Solar microinverters convert the DC power that’s produced by solar panels into AC power, that can be either be used on-site, or sent back to the electrical grid. The… → Read More
Cobalt Technologies, a cleantech startup in Mountain View that develops and makes biobutanol, closed a $20 million series D funding round, the company revealed today. The investment arm of Parsons & Whittemore (the Whittemore Collection) led the round, joined by all of Cobalt’s earlier venture backers: Pinnacle Ventures, Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund, VantagePoint Capital Partners, Life… → Read More
Google Inc.’s putting another $100 million into large-scale, renewable energy projects. The company’s director of green business operations, Rick Needham, revealed Monday in a post to the corporate blog:
[Google] invested approximately $100 million in the Shepherds Flat Wind Farm…currently under construction near windy Arlington, Ore. When completed in 2012 [the plant] will produce 845 MW of… → Read More
The number of American businesses with formal green programs in place increased 54 percent last year according to new research from Buck Consultants (a subsidiary of Xerox). Of about 120 businesses surveyed — including hardware and other technology firms, government offices, consultancies, non-profits, hospitals, and the makers of consumer packaged goods — 69 percent said they took deliberate… → Read More
Abound Solar, which makes thin-film cadmium telluride solar panels, has attained certifications that will allow the company to receive feed-in tariffs in the U.K. and pursue sales there aggressively.
With a feed-in tariff, utilities agree to pay a premium, but stable, rate for power generated from renewable sources, both as the utility uses the power, or as it is fed back through the grid to be… → Read More
INEOS New Planet BioEnergy — a joint venture between the biofuels division of the chemicals company INEOS, and waste management and biofuel facility consultants New Planet Energy — secured a $75 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Biorefinery Assistance Program, the government agency confirmed today.
The company plans to use the money to construct and begin… → Read More
A new SEC filing revealed that LS9 — a biotechnology startup turning plant-based materials into fuel and chemicals for use within traditional petroleum-based systems — has raised a series D investment of $30 million.
The round was led by BlackRock and joined by all of LS9′s previous investors: Flagship Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and CTTV Investments LLC, the… → Read More
Suntech Power Holdings Co. (NYSE: STP) has inked a deal to supply and install another 9.43 MW of solar panels at a plant in Thailand owned by Bangchak Petroleum, the companies announced today. The large scale plant will be grid-connected by late next year with a total capacity of 44 MW.
Thailand’s national goal is to meet 20% of its total energy consumption with renewable sources by 2022. The… → Read More
A Kyle, Texas company that makes utility scale power storage systems, Xtreme Power, nabbed a $29.5 million, series C round of venture funding the company announced today. The investment was co-led by Bessemer Venture Partners, the venture capital arm of The Dow Chemical Company and clean tech investors SAIL Venture Partners.
Xtreme Power aims to alleviate problems associated with renewable energy… → Read More
SolarCity today announced that it is taking a $21.5 million round of funding led by Mayfield Fund, and the company’s previous investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, DBL Investors and Generation Capital. The company’s prior funding totaled approximately $134 million, and included investors First Solar, JP Morgan and Elon Musk.
SolarCity helps businesses, home owners and government agencies adopt solar… → Read More
Google’s checkbook is wide open this week. Not only did it buy 3D interface startup BumpTop, and invest in mobile payments company Corduro, but it also just put $38.8 million into a wind farm in North Dakota. The $190 million project is being put together by NextEra Energy Resources, will produce 170 megawatts of power (enough for 55,000 homes), and will be called Peace Garden Wind. Cue the… → Read More
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