It was a busy week in cleantech news with smart grid announcements dominating the headlines.
IBM (NYSE: IBM) unveiled a new software platform the company hopes will become a standard for smart grid installations. It’s called Solution Architecture for Energy and Utilities Framework (SAFE) and it utilizes elements of IBM’s entire software portfolio including WebSphere, Tivoli, Rational and Lotus. TX-based CenterPoint Energy already uses the software, and IBM also announced the creation of a business partner validation program that it said will allow utilities to accelerate the development of their smart utility solutions.
Not to be outdone, Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) announced the creation of its Smart Grid Ecosystem including high-profile members like Echelon (Nasdaq: ELON), GE (NYSE: GE), GridPoint, Infosys, Itron, Landis + Gyr, Siemens (NYSE: SI) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ). The so-called Ecosystem will push for the adoption of Internet Protocol (IP)-based communications standards for smart grids. Cisco also said it has formed a Smart Grid Technical Advisory Board (TAB) made up of utility and energy companies that will help the company align its service and product direction to specific business requirements.
Also this week, Southern California Edison, and Edison International company (NYSE: EIX), kicked off its Edison SmartConnect program which will eventually include the installation of 5 million smart meters; and utility Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL) turned on its smart grid in Boulder, Colorado, which it said is the "first fully functioning smart grid enabled city."
Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), the nation’s third-largest power company, announced additional partnerships for its smart grid initiatives. The company selected Convergys Corp. (NYSE: CVG) to supply billing and customer management technology; and Ambient (OTCBB: ABTG) to provide communications nodes needed to transmit data from smart meters to the utility’s operations center.
And finally, Itron Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) announced a partnership with OpenPeak Inc. Itron is the first advanced metering vendor to incorporate OpenPeak’s line of multimedia touch screen units into its smart grid offerings. In addition to allowing homeowners to view and manage energy usage, the touch screen device is designed to serve as a portal for news, weather, social networking, music and family photos.
In other industry news, Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) announced at the end of last week that it will sell an idled assembly plant near Detroit to be redeveloped as a renewable energy manufacturing park. Terms of the sale were not disclosed, but Clairvoyant Energy and Xtreme Power plan an initial investment of $725 million to redevelop the 320-acre site. Xtreme Power of Austin, Texas, will build energy storage devices, while Clairvoyant Energy of Santa Barbara, Calif. will install the first U.S. thin-film solar production line designed by Oerlikon Solar. The companies said they will utilize about half of the plant’s 4.7 million square feet, and seek additional green-energy companies to lease the remaining space.
Massachusetts-based lithium ion battery maker A123 Systems Inc has filed a price range for an initial public offering (IPO). The company plans to offer 25.68 million shares of common stock, priced between $8.50 and $9.50 per share. That puts the IPO value roughly between $217 million and $244 million. The company, which has a contract to provide batteries for Chrysler vehicles, initially filed for an IPO in August 2008, but held off due to market conditions. The company is one of several that has received government funding to build manufacturing facilities for advanced batteries in Michigan.
The U.S. Department of Defense announced that it has chosen algae-to-fuel company Solazyme to test its renewable fuel as a replacement for F-76 Naval Distillate, the primary shipboard fuel used by the Navy. The contract calls for the delivery of 20,000 gallons of the company’s Soladiesel® fuel, as well as R&D and fuel delivery components.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $14.6 million in fundingfor 22 advanced water power projects including new marine and hydrokinetic technologies, as well as conventional hydropower plants. The usual suspects were present. Funded projects include two for Ocean Renewable Power Company of Portland, Maine; two for Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT); and one each for Principle Power, Inc of Seattle, WA and Ocean Power Technologies, Inc of Pennington, NJ.
The DOE also launched the H-Prize competition, offering a $1 million award to an individual or team that creates the most advanced materials for hydrogen storage in vehicles. Hydrogen storage is a critical barrier to the widespread adoption of hydrogen-fueled vehicles. The DOE said future prizes will address other technical barriers to fuel cell vehicles, including hydrogen production and distribution. The first prize will be awarded in February 2011.
Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL) selected Abengoa Solar to build a demonstration concentrating solar power (CSP) plant alongside its coal-fired plant near Grand Junction, Colorado. The goal of the project is to prove that the heat produced by a solar facility can increase the efficiency of a conventional power plant while also lowering carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Construction is scheduled to start within a month and the plant is expected to be operational by the end of the year.
And lastly, SunPower Corp (SPWRA.O) said it plans to begin producing solar panels in the U.S. in about a year. Tome Werner, the company’s CEO spoke in San Francisco at the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit. He said California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona are all possible locations. The company currently manufactures its products in the Philippines and China. Werner said the new U.S. facility would produce up to a quarter of the company’s solar panel capacity.
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