It’s been a few weeks since the last Roundup. Let’s get caught up on the biggest stories…
California solar company Solyndra plans to close one of its two
factories and cut by half its production target over the next three
years. The New York Times released the story just hours after polls closed on
Tuesday, and it’s likely that Solyndra held onto the news as long as possible to avoid
giving Republicans additional firepower in the lead-up to midterm
elections. Solyndra was one of the first clean technology companies to receive a loan guarantee from the Department of Energy. The funds were used to build a new factory in Freemont, California. Solyndra cancelled plans for an IPO this summer, when audits questioned the financial viability of the company’s cylindrical-shaped solar panels, which are more expensive to produce than conventional rooftop solar panels. However the company says it can continue to drive down costs by closing its older, less-efficient factory.
Power company NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG) said it will invest $300 million in
a massive concentrating solar thermal power plant being built on public lands in California by BrightSource Energy. The Ivanpah project is among a half dozen utility-scale solar projects that have been approved by the Bureau of Land Management in recent weeks. The Department of Energy is also supporting the 392 MW power plant with a $1.3 billion loan guarantee. Construction has already begun and the power plant is expected to be fully operational by mid-2013.
U.S. lithium-ion battery maker Ener1, Inc. (Nasdaq: HEV) signed what could be the first in a series of major contracts with Russia’s state-run Federal Grid
Company (FGC). The Russian government is spending $15 billion to update of the country’s power
transmission infrastructure through 2012. And Ener1 signed a $40 million contract to co-develop large-scale energy storage systems for the grid. The initial phase will focus on systems for the Sochi region where the 2014 Winter Olympic Games are held. Bruce Curtis, President of Ener1 Grid Storage, said he believes the contract is only the beginning of the company’s work in the country.
Two of Germany’s technology giants announced an agreement to work together on initiatives for electric vehicles. SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) and Siemens (NYSE: SI) plan to develop an eCar proof of concept (POC), which they said will demonstrate the cross-industry
collaboration needed to support widespread adoption of the
vehicles. Siemens will provide hardware for battery charging while SAP will head up the back-end software development to interconnect meter data from various consumer scenarios. The company’s said other participants in the working group will be announced soon, and results of the collaboration will be shared with utilities next year.
Japan’s Solar Frontier announced an agreement to jointly develop a new type of thin film solar
cell technology with IBM (NYSE: IBM). In February, IBM announced record results of 9.6% efficiency with solar cells made from the elements copper, zinc, tin, sulfur, and selenium (CZTS for short). These elements have an advantage of being more plentiful and less toxic than the elements used in competing thin-film technologies. Solar Frontier is owned by Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K (5002.T), which recently signed a high-profile deal to produce GE-branded solar panels. IBM is also working on the CZTS technology with Taiwan’s DelSolar Co.
U.S. thin-film solar company First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) may be losing some of its luster for investors. The company’s stock has been a top performer in the sector for years, but share prices dropped more than 10% following a fifth straight quarter of declining margins. Even though the company beat analyst expectations for profit, investors may be worried that Chinese solar companies like JinkoSolar (NYSE: JKS) posted increasing margins, while First Solar’s module price and production cost seem to be inching closer together.
And Bloomberg news reported that China’s second largest power company is planning a $1 billion Hong Kong IPO for its renewable power division. The report cites two individuals familiar with the state-owned China Datang Corp. According to the report, China Datang Corp. Renewable Power Co. could debut on the Hong Kong exchange in late December. Renewable energy is one of seven "strategic" industries China intends to
promote over the next five years. In October, Beijing announced that
power distribution companies will be required to purchase renewable
power quotas beginning in 2011.
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