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SunPower Reports Q3 Results

SunPower Corporation (Nasdaq: SPWR) announced that revenue for the third quarter ended September 30, 2006 was $65.3 million, up 19% from the prior quarter’s revenue of $54.7 million and up 198% from the third quarter 2005 revenue of $21.9 million. GAAP net income for the quarter was $9.6 million, or $0.13 diluted earnings per share, compared to last quarter’s net income of $5.4 million or $0.08 per share and the third quarter 2005 net loss of $1.6 million. Tom Werner, SunPower’s CEO, said, “We posted another strong quarter with operating results that exceeded our announced objectives. We saw excellent execution across the company, with significant progress on a number of fronts. Our plans for rapid growth continue on track: SunPower has tripled solar cell manufacturing capacity over the past year and we plan to more than double that capacity by the end of next year while rapidly expanding our panel manufacturing in parallel. We have entered into a joint venture to construct and operate a new silicon ingot manufacturing facility in Korea. Our R&D group is establishing a formidable intellectual property position. Our marketing team is leveraging SunPower’s industry-leading technology to deliver our customers highly differentiated products that combine superior […]

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Millennium Cell Receives $4M Air Force Order

Millennium Cell Inc. (NASDAQ: MCEL), a developer of hydrogen battery technology, has received a $4 million order from the Air Force Research Laboratory (“AFRL”) to develop the next generation of sodium borohydride based fuel cartridge technology to address higher energy density targets for future power sources. The initial $0.5 million phase of work under this the contract will support new technology development for the soldier power program at AFRL. Integration and evaluation of advanced fuel cartridges compatible with the Protonex 30 watt soldier power system as well as other potential fuel cell systems is planned in later phases of this delivery order. This system is currently under evaluation by the Air Force. Website: http://www.millenniumcell.com     

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Con Ed Awards $2M Contract to Northern Power

Northern Power, a subsidiary of Distributed Energy Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: DESC), has been awarded a $2.1 million contract from NY utility Con Edison (NYSE: ED) to supply an advance version of its new Mobile Power Interface (MPI) power converter solution. A major regulated utility provider of electric service in New York City and Westchester County, Con Edison is entering into the contract as part of its ongoing effort to develop and deploy generation in support of the distribution network. Northern Power’s MPI1800 offers utilities a safe and reliable solution for connecting megawatt (MW) scale generators to a distribution grid. The mobile system will provide power to the network during emergencies. The MPI1800 system includes a natural gas-fired, 1.5 MW generator packaged in a mobile trailer that can be readily deployed during contingencies or deployed to multiple locations over the course of a year. It also includes a diesel fuel tank sized to allow the system to run at rated capacity for 10 hours before re-fueling. Built-in environmental controls and communication systems, including the company’s SmartView® SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) software program, provide data collection and system monitoring capabilities. The MPI1800 ordered by Con Edison contains two PowerDistributor(TM) PD900 […]

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TIAA-CREF Launches $100M Microfinance Program

TIAA-CREF, the leading provider of retirement savings services in the academic, medical and cultural fields with over $380 billion in assets, has announced a landmark commitment to microfinance – the practice of loaning small amounts of money to people to help them develop their own businesses.Rather than giving loans, however, TIAA-CREF is breaking ground with its new $100 million Global Microfinance Investment Program (GMIP), which will take equity stakes in selected Microfinance Institutions (MFI’s) around the world. The first investment is a $43 million private equity stake in ProCredit Holding AG, one of the world’s leading microfinance companies. In another precedent-setting move, TIAA-CREF announced that funding for the ProCredit investment would come from its mainstream branch, TIAA Traditional – a guaranteed fixed annuity account with nearly $160 billion and 2.3 million investors – rather than from its $8 billion socially responsible investing option, CREF Social Choice Account. By using assets from its larger, traditional accounts, TIAA-CREF is taking a major step in mainstreaming microfinance.“We subscribe to the view that microfinance investing can contribute to a double bottom line,” said Ed Grzybowski, TIAA-CREF’s Chief Investment Officer. “GMIP, and this investment in ProCredit, gives us an opportunity to seek competitive returns through […]

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Concentrated Solar Power Heats Up

After 15 years of relative inactivity, utility-scale solar power projects are gaining considerable momentum globally.With higher energy costs and new regulatory support, concentrated solar power (CSP) technology, using the sun’s thermal energy to generate electricity from steam, has re-emerged as a competitive power generation option, particularly in arid regions where power demand peaks during the heat of the day.Currently over 45 CSP projects are in the planning stages globally with a combined capacity of 5,500 MW, according to Emerging Energy Research, an advisory and consulting firm that tracks emerging technologies in global energy markets. Four projects are anticipated to begin commercial operation in the next 18 months in the US and Spain.“Beyond wind, solar CSP represents the scalable renewable investment opportunity with the most potential to be competitive with peak power prices in the medium term,” according to EER senior analyst Alex Klein. “With more than 5,000 MW of projects in the pipeline, the CSP market is positioned to boom if regulatory and planning support continues to grow in the short term, allowing the industry to mature.”While today all of the world’s commercially operating CSP power plants are cited in southern California, the technology’s growth prospects are just as bright […]

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