Green Tech

LOS ANGELES--Kleiner Perkins and Khosla Ventures-backed solar-thermal start-up Ausra is in talks with three potential buyers to sell itself, two sources familiar with the company told Reuters on Friday.

The buyers could take a majority stake or snag the whole company and the discussions are at a "very aggressive level," said one source familiar with the company, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Both sources said the interested companies were global conglomerates in the power generation business but declined to name them. The companies already have various power products, such as steam and gas turbines, and are committed to renewable energy. One interested party has engaged with Ausra previously, one source said.

Ausra declined to comment.

A sale of the high-profile Silicon Valley start-up that has raised $130 million in venture capital would add to a string of recent deals and growing consolidation in the solar-power industry.

Chinese solar-wafer manufacturer ReneSola plans to buy Dynamic Green Energy while silicon maker MEMC Electronic Materials plans to acquire privately held SunEdison, which installs, maintains, and finances commercial solar systems.

Privately held Ausra, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., launched as a solar-thermal developer in 2006, when solar power and other clean technology were luring venture capitalists.

Two years ago the company landed a power purchasing agreement with California utility PG&E, a unit of PG&E Corp., for a 117-megawatt solar-thermal plant. Solar-thermal plants use the sun's rays to heat liquid to create steam, which drives turbines and generates electricity.

Earlier this year, the company switched tracks, saying it would move away from developing projects and focus on supplying large-scale solar steam generators.

This month Ausra said that it canceled its agreement with PG&E and sold the project's land to the largest U.S. solar-power company, First Solar, maker of thin-film solar cells.

Ausra also has deals in Jordan and Australia and other investors include Starfish Ventures and KERN Partners.

One source familiar with the company said that "extensive work" has been done at various stages of completion with the interested buyers.

"We're talking about meetings with dozens of people involved," said the person, who also was not authorized to speak publicly about the discussions.

Story Copyright (c) 2009 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

New Jersey regulators on Tuesday approved a proposal from utility Public Service Electric and Gas to expand its solar loan program by $143 million and 51 megawatts.

The program expansion means a total of $248 million in loans, translating into an estimated 81 megawatts worth of solar systems available to interested homeowners, businesses, and municipalities across the state.

Public Service Electric and Gas already has a program to install 200,000 solar panels from Petra Solar on N.J. utility poles and street lamps.

(Credit: Petra Solar)

Since Public Service Electric and Gas' (PSE&G's) first loan program for installing photovoltaic panels was approved in April 2008, about $105 million in loans, totaling 30 megawatts worth of solar systems, have been applied for by its customers, according to company statistics. While its seen as an expansion, the next round of funding is technically a completely new program approved by the N.J. Board of Public Utilities (BUP) with specific regulations.

The Solar Loan II Program will run on a first-come, first-served basis for the next two years, or until 51 megawatts in solar systems have been installed.

The loans should cover half the cost of a solar system installation, according to BUP estimates. They will be offered as 10-year loans for residential homeowners, and 15-year loans for commercial or municipal customers, which can be repaid in cash or via earned Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SREC). One SREC is earned for every megawatt hour of solar energy created, according to PSE&G. The BUP also set preliminary monetary rates for SREC credits.

"Initially, the SREC floor price for residential systems is $450; for nonresidential systems up to 150 kw the price is $410; and for systems larger than 150 kw up to 500 kw it is $380. The floor prices offered for SRECs for new loan applications will be reduced by about 3 to 6 percent every 6 months," according to a statement from the BUP.

For the other half of installation costs, the BUP is recommending solar system owners apply for New Jersey Clean Energy Program rebates and federal tax credits.

"There's no question that providing a source of stable, secure capital--especially in our tough economy--has helped boost the number of solar energy systems in New Jersey," Ralph LaRossa, president and COO of PSE&G, said in a statement.

"We're pleased to do our part to make New Jersey a leader in solar energy installations, second only to California," he said.

LaRossa is justified in his assertion. While it can't compare to California, which has huge projects in the 550-megawatt range underway, New Jersey is a leading state for solar installations, as well as clean-tech projects in general.

The greater New York metropolitan area, which includes a large portion of N.J., was recently ranked No. 3 in the country for most clean-tech job activity in the U.S. by a recent report, with the solar sector leading the clean-tech job market overall. It was only lagging behind the greater metropolitan areas of San Francisco and Los Angeles in California, respectively. New Jersey was also ranked 7th by another recent report listing U.S. states doing the most to wean its residents off foreign oil.

In addition to its solar loan program, PSE&G was approved in July for a partnership with Petra Solar to install over 200,000 photovoltaic panels on N.J. utility poles and street lights to tie into the state's electrical grid. It was also approved to install 5 megawatts worth of solar equipment in New Jersey urban enterprise zones, and an another 10 megawatts to be installed on the properties of interested third parties.

Painting the Golden Gate Bridge yellow might cause less fuss than trying to install a wind farm off Cape Cod's historic coast.

But when you're trying to build where the wind is strongest or the sun is brightest, you never know what obstacles you may run into.

In Massachusetts, a proposed wind farm called Cape Wind was dealt a blow last Friday that will delay what would be the first offshore wind farm in the U.S. The Massachusetts Historical Commission agreed with local Indian tribes who claim that the location for the wind farm should be considered for listing in the National Historic Register because the Wampanoags' history and culture are "inextricably linked to Nantucket Sound," according to the opinion.

An offshore wind farm in north Wales, U.K.

(Credit: Vestas)

"If the tribes are successful, that would have a severe chilling effect (on the entire wind industry) because tribes up and down the coast could make the same claim," said Mark Rodgers, the communications director for Cape Wind. "Never before has an open ocean been caught up in this kind of declaration."

Then again, never before has a rare combination of private and government investment pumped so much into alternative energy projects. As these projects grow in frequency and scale, a new breed of NIMBY (not in my backyard) is emerging: Opponents of wind or solar installations who generally support renewable energy, just as long as they are built somewhere else. Coal and nuclear plants, it turns out, aren't the only energy facilities people don't want built in their backyards...or coastlines.

The Cape Wind fight, in particular, has brought together a testy combination of excellent wind conditions, opposition from well heeled local residents including members of the Kennedy clan, and a surprising assertion of Native American rights.

The National Historic Register is expected to make a ruling on whether the Sound can be considered eligible for protection as a traditional cultural property within 45 days. In its environmental review, the U.S. Minerals Management Service had previously concluded that it should not because the agency found the visual effects from the farm would be minor, and no historical archaeological resources in the Sound were identified. (Click for PDF of report excerpt).

Two tribes of the Wampanoags, who are descendants of the people who greeted the 17th century Pilgrims to Massachusetts, say they have long opposed Cape Wind because an unobstructed view of the ocean is vital to their culture, which calls for them to greet sunrise each day.

If there is a ruling in favor of the Wampanoags, it could delay approval by up to a year, according to reports. So far, Cape Wind, which is run by a group of investors who developed natural gas plants in the past, has spent $40 million over eight years. Developing the project, which would benefit from a tax credit or cash subsidy, is expected to cost more than $1 billion.

The claim is coming to a head at a time when Cape Wind had cleared all state-level environmental and siting permits, despite opposition from well organized local groups and powerful politicians, including the late senator Edward Kennedy. The family's compound would have a view of the 130 turbines, which would be placed five miles off the coast of Cape Cod. The project would supply about 75 percent of the electricity used on Cape Cod with 130 offshore turbines that would be visible as small spikes on the horizon, according to simulations.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said last week that he wanted his agency to make a decision on whether to give Cape Wind federal approval by the end of year--a deadline that is now in question.

On Monday, Massachusetts representative Edward Markey, who heads the House Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, sent a letter to Salazar on Monday, urging his department to approve the project before the start of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in early December because it would "send a strong message to international negotiators about the United States' commitment to developing sources of clean energy and reducing global warming pollution."

Green vs. green
Wind isn't the only form of clean energy that's running into opposition. Earlier this year, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce established a Web site called Project No Project, where it lists dozens of energy-related projects caught up in "green tape." The Chamber blames delays on NIMBY or "radical environmentalism."

The Chamber of Commerce has come under fire by environmentalists and a handful of its members for its opposition to proposed climate change legislation, but a number of renewable energy projects, mostly in wind, are being held up along with coal and nuclear projects, according to the Chamber.

Directly related to renewable energy is the thorny issue of transmission lines. Most of the wind and solar resources are in the middle of the country, far away from the areas of heavy electricity demand, which means that new lines need to be built to take advantage of the country's renewable resources.

There are a number of proposals to carry renewable energy around the country, including high-voltage power lines where less electricity would be lost in transmission. But many face local opposition because of the visual impact from these added wires.

For example, a coalition in Texas has formed called Protect North Palo Duro Canyon, where there is a proposal to string transmission lines across the canyon to carry electricity generated by wind turbines. The group wants to stop the development because of the environmental and historical significance of the place, the group says.

"Wind energy generated in the Texas Panhandle can serve the needs of populous cities such as Dallas and Austin and is important to the future of this state, but not at the cost of natural treasures such as the north Palo Duro Canyon and other beautiful areas in Texas," said Bob Currie, a coalition member.

In addition to drawing opposition from local landowners, the national push for clean energy is raising a "green vs. green" debate between the environmental benefits of renewable energy versus preservation of valuable ecosystems.

An illustration of the proposed Ivapah project in the Mojave Desert shows how much land is needed for utility-scale solar. This project, still being pursued by BrightSource Energy, would take up six square miles to supply electricity to 140,000 homes per year, using mirrors arrayed in a circle around a tower. Using less than 2 percent of the Mojave Desert's land would supply electricity for all the homes in California and cut carbon emissions by 30 million tons a year, according to the company.

(Credit: BrightSource Energy)

Driven by a California state mandate that utilities get a significant portion of their electricity from renewable sources, there's a land grab going in the desert areas of the U.S. Southwest that get the direct sunlight suitable for concentrating solar power.

These machines, which concentrate the sunlight to make steam for an electricity turbine, require large tracts of land for utility-scale power generation. As a result, most of these project developers have submitted project proposals to the Bureau of Land Management for siting and environmental reviews, which has created a backlog of applications.

BrightSource Energy, which has been picked to supply hundreds of megawatts of electricity to utilities, last month had to scrap a plan to build a solar power plant in a region of the Mojave Desert that had been set aside for conservation by the environmental group Wildlands Conservancy. California senator Dianne Feinstein said that specific location is not suitable for wind or solar development because it would lead to destruction of the desert ecosystem. Although she supports solar and wind development, she is proposing added protections for the region near other conservation lands, including Joshua Tree National Park.

Common sense?
With the list of clean-energy projects growing, there are efforts to speed up reviews. The Interior Department said last week that it would fast-track environmental reviews of six solar power plant proposals in California. Altogether, these projects would occupy 28,000 acres of land--almost the same area covered by the City of San Francisco--and generate 2.5 gigawatts of electricity, or enough for two million homes, Salazar told reporters.

In Massachusetts, which is encouraging development of clean energy businesses, state officials are considering a way to unblock reviews of a number of stalled wind energy projects.

Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick said last week's decision on Nantucket Sound and historic preservation listing was "ridiculous." In a statement, he said, "We are going to have to get serious about alternative energy installations where they make sense, and every environmental and regulatory review has concluded that Cape Wind makes sense."

The project's well organized opposition group, the Alliance to Save Nantucket Sound, says that placing turbines offshore will damage the environment and hurt tourism. It even recruited regular Martha's Vineyard visitor Walter Cronkite to record radio and TV spots, but he later changed his position, saying he "hadn't done his homework."

Meanwhile, environmental groups are trying to find ways to distinguish NIMBY sentiment from the real need for environmental protection. In general, groups like the Sierra Club favor renewable energy development, even though wind turbines, for example, do pose a danger to birds and bats. Even the Massachusetts chapter of the Audubon Society, which counts many birders in its members, has given conditional support to Cape Wind.

What's needed is data to rule out specific locations that pose too many risks, environmental groups say. Environmental advocacy group the National Resources Defense Council earlier this year developed an online mapping tool to choose the sites best suited for renewable energy. The point of the application is to show people the most suitable sites, which should avoid roadblocks during the review process.

"We need to develop our renewable resources if we are to address the challenge of climate change, but that development must be carried out in an environmentally responsible way," said Johanna Wald, a senior attorney at the NRDC in a blog post. "If it is done right, informed environmentalists will, I believe, stand up in support."

ANAHEIM, Calif.--Executives from solar power companies see clearer skies in 2010 for the beleaguered industry, even as quarterly reports from heavyweights like First Solar and SunPower have disappointed investors and dragged down shares.

The industry has struggled to emerge this year from tight credit markets, a global glut of panels, and falling prices.

"I think we're already in the middle of a turnaround. We've kind of gone through the low point of the recent past," said Steven Chan, Suntech Power Holdings' chief strategy officer, in an interview with Reuters.

Executives from Sharp, BP's solar unit, and other solar power players shared similar optimism about the sector's outlook in 2010 at the Solar Power International conference being held here this week.

The industry, which grew at a clip of more than 40 percent for several years, has suffered in the recession, but solar companies kept a bullish attitude on growth next year.

Executives cited various forces that could drive growth in 2010, including U.S. stimulus funds for green projects, extended tax incentives and new financing.

"I call it a warming up," said Ron Kenedi, vice president of Sharp Solar Energy Solutions Group, in an interview at the conference.

Kenedi said work on government projects has been a "bright spot," while BP Solar Chief Executive Reyad Fezzani said new subsidies in markets like India will spur industry growth and that Italy has built up a lot of momentum.

Fezzani predicted the sector could grow globally 50 percent next year and warned that pent-up demand could even spark fresh supply issues.

"It may be that the supply chain may get tight again...Quite frankly the way this market can shift from long to short and back remains the biggest challenge," Fezzani said during a panel discussion at the conference.

He cited reports that companies that make inverters are running short on inventory, and Suntech's Chan said his company was juggling how to allocate panels among its customers amid good signs for sales for the first quarter of 2010.

Inverters convert the direct current produced by solar cells into alternating current compatible with the U.S. electrical grid.

While panel prices have tumbled about 50 percent over the last year, companies said that the decline is slowing or has even stalled.

Chan said panel prices have been stable in the fourth quarter and they will decline about 8 percent to 10 percent in 2010.

Still, more polysilicon is expected to come onto the market, putting margin pressure on producers of the material, which is used in the majority of panels, said Olaf Koester, chief executive of Solon's U.S. unit, based in Tucson, Ariz.

Some in the industry also remain wary that financing has yet to fully recover. BP's Fezzani said that companies still need banks to provide financing in a timely way.

"They have the intent, they have the resources, they've hired the lawyers to do the due diligence. But, frankly, the issue is they're not signing the checks and it's causing delays," Fezzani told reporters at the conference.

Story Copyright (c) 2009 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

Konarka's solar panel on a Neuber mailbag.

(Credit: Neuber)

Konarka Technologies announced this week its Power Plastic flexible solar panels are going to be being used in carrier bags and possibly shade structures in the Middle East and Africa.

The company made a deal to supply its solar panels to German-based carrier manufacturer Neuber for bags that can double as chargers for small electronics like cell phones, digital cameras, and media players. Neuber is currently selling the so-called Energy Sun Bags at around 118 euros ($175) on the Neuber Web site.

Konarka's flexible solar panels in Neuber's range of mailbags are not the first instance of backpacks going solar, but they certainly are one of the first we've noticed in the growing trend in recent months of reasonably-priced solar bags coming on to the consumer market.

While not yet at the product stage, Konarka also announced this week it's partnering with Enviromena Power Systems, a solar project developer in the Middle East and North Africa whose clients include Abu Dhabi's planned green community Masdar City.

The plan is to integrate Konarka's flexible solar panels into shade structures.

Shade structures, tents, and awnings are already used ubiquitously for shade. It makes sense to find a double use for them as a solar panels to provide a recharge for cell phones or iPods.

As it does with most trends, Samsung is pursuing eco-friendly cell phones with vigor. It already gave us the Samsung Reclaim, and now we finally have a chance to review the Samsung Blue Earth. Like the Reclaim, the Blue Earth's shell is made from recycled materials--specifically, plastic water bottles--but it goes a giant step further with solar panels on its rear face. The solar panels actually work and can charge the phone in a pinch.

The Blue Earth is also free of harmful materials like polyvinyl chloride, and you can minimize battery use by adjusting the display settings. Outside of being green, the Blue Earth offers a functional feature set, but its small touch screen hampers its usability and there was static during calls. Check out our Blue Earth review for a more detailed look.

Samsung Blue Earth photos

Skyline's high gain solar arrays installed at a San Jose, Calif., pilot project.

(Credit: Skyline Solar)

Solar array manufacturing start-up Skyline Solar announced Thursday it has made a deal with auto-parts manufacturer Cosmo International to build its frames, racks, and reflectors.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Cosmo, a unit of Magna International that includes 37 manufacturing plants, is known for making auto body parts and chassis for the automotive industry. Its fabrications include the door frame for the Mercedes M-Class, the tailgate for the Dodge Dakota, the hood of the BMW X3, and an "advanced high strength steel bumper assembly" for the Volkswagen Passat.

While the announcement is a "rust belt to green belt" example of how the U.S. can turn around its failing manufacturing economy with a refocus on green technology, the deal is not necessarily a bellwether.

Skyline Solar is uniquely suited to a partnership with a company that employs skilled sheet metal workers. In addition to the frames and mounting systems, its solar arrays are, in fact, made of bent sheet metal used to reflect sunlight on to a silicon collector containing monocrystalline silicon cells.

The solar start-up, based in Mountain View, Calif., which in addition to private funding has received $3 million in grant money from the U.S. Department of Energy, purposely designed its solar systems to be auto-manufacturing friendly.

Skyline Solar announced in May 2009 that, in addition to reducing the amount of silicon needed for a solar system, it had found a way to use pre-existing auto manufacturing sources as a way to cut down on solar manufacturing costs.

Solar incentives seem to be working to both increase the number of solar installations in the U.S. and bring down the initial cost, according to a report released Wednesday by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

"Findings...show that, after a three-year plateau, costs decreased by 3.6 percent from 2007 to 2008, marking a pivotal year for the American solar industry," said the report (PDF).

Broken down into real 2008 dollars, the report estimated that the actual cost of installing photovoltaic solar systems--excluding tax credits or financial incentives--was $10.80 per watt in 1998 versus $7.50 per watt in 2008.

That initial cost to the installer dropped significantly once incentives and tax credits were factored in.

Last year, the average cost of installation was $2.80 per watt for residential photovoltaic, when incentives and tax credits are counted, and $4.00 per watt for commercial.

The report attributed rising fuel prices since 1998 and government incentives for alternative energy to the solar market boom. There has been a significant increase in photovoltaic installations in the U.S. since 2007. Of the 566 megawatts of solar added to the U.S. grid since 1998, an estimated 293 megawatts of photovoltaic were added in 2008 alone. That recent uptick was attributed in part to "more lucrative" federal investment tax credits adopted for commercial photovoltaic systems in 2006.

If that figure of 566 megawatts seems low given the plethora of solar installation announcements from private and public organizations over the past few years, keep in mind these figures are for grid-connected systems only.

The report data evaluated the cost outlay for 52,000 residential and commercial installations, about 71 percent of all the grid-connected photovoltaic systems that were installed in the U.S. between 1998 and 2009. The report data did not include cost outlay for those residential or commercial systems operating off the grid.

But the report did include outside data for comparison of markets.

It showed that the recent growing popularity of solar is not just a U.S. phenomenon. About 5,948 megawatts of photovoltaic were installed globally in 2008 compared to 2,826 megawatts in 2007. Spain was the largest photovoltaic market in terms of installation in 2008, followed by Germany and then the U.S., according to the report.

Undoubtedly, the global installation figure will increase even more dramatically in the coming years. China alone has announced plans for large-scale photovoltaic installations ranging from 500 megawatts in Baotou, Inner Mongolia to 2,000 megawatts in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia. In the U.S., First Solar has been given rights to develop a 550-megawatt plant in California.

Team Germany's winning SurPlusHome

(Credit: Department of Energy)

A high-tech building covered on all sides with solar cells has won an international contest for the best home powered only by the sun.

Team Germany, which also won in 2007, took first place in the Solar Decathlon, beating out teams from Illinois and California.

At a ceremony Friday in Washington, D.C., the Department of Energy announced the winners of the competition, in which student teams designed and built solar homes on the National Mall. For the past week, the homes have been scored on architecture, market viability, and a number of objective measures, such as how much hot water the house can generate.

On the final day, Germany beat out its rivals by getting the highest score in the net metering contest, or the amount of excess electricity the home produced.

Germany's team, from Technische Universitat in Darmstadt, designed a building that not only had solar panels on the roof, but also on the walls, making the potential generation as high as 11,000 watts. The specially designed siding that used thin-film solar cells fitted onto aluminum strips. The solar cells ran all the electrical systems, including the hot water heater, and are capable of generating about twice as much electricity as the house needs.

Underneath the clapboard was a highly insulating material. That was one of a number of techniques, including automated louvers to take in outside air, that home used to increase its energy efficiency and conform to the Passive House low-energy home standard.

The cube-like structure not only allowed for a maximum surface area for solar cells, but also allowed the architects to build a two-story interior, unlike the other entrants. The cost for this sophisticated home was at the high end in the competition, with an estimated price tag in the $650,000 to $850,000 range.

By contrast, the second place team--Team Illinois from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign--made a home on the low end of the price range, estimated at about $250,000.

The Illinois team chose to focus on local architecture and local suppliers for its house. It used reclaimed wood from a family barn and a local grain elevator for the siding and decking. On the inside, it used a new product--structural bamboo beams--made from a fast-regenerating plant.

The designers at Illinois, too, chose to run the house entirely on solar electric panels, rather than have a combination of solar photovoltaics and solar hot water panels for all heating and cooling. The all-electric system allowed it to use highly efficient air-source heat pump. The building was also heavily insulated, getting an estimated R50 by using spray foam, and chose highly efficient appliances inside.

Team California, which was a collaboration between Santa Clara University and the California College of the Arts, came in third place, placing at the top in the communications and architecture categories.

The homes in the competition were limited to 800 square feet but California designed its home to give it a bigger feel by having different zones and a large deck that integrated with the main living space.

The team, which also scored well for home entertainment and appliances, designed a home-automation system that allows home owners to monitor energy usage from a touch-screen display. The same display also allows people to control lighting, the shades, and appliances.

The full scorecard and more photos of the homes can be seen at the Solar Decathlon site.

Photos: Solar Decathlon, start your houses