Green Tech

General Electric on Tuesday committed $100 million to open a factory in upstate New York to manufacture batteries for hybrid locomotives and other industries such as power grid storage.

CEO Jeffrey Immelt dedicated the facility at a press conference at GE's Niskayuna, New York research and development facility along with New York governor David Paterson and other politicians.

GE has been testing sodium-metal chloride batteries for heavy-duty industrial applications, such as hybrid locomotives and trucking equipment in mining. The technology can also be used for back-up power in data centers, plug-in electric vehicles, and to smooth electricity flow across the grid, GE executives said during the press conference.

GE has already invested $150 million in developing sodium battery technology, which it says can store a large amount of energy in a relatively small space. Because it uses relatively common materials--sodium and nickel--the cost is competitive with other battery technologies, said Mark Little, director of GE Global Research.

"It's very sophisticated, very high-end manufacturing technology with very simple materials, giving you low cost," Little said.

In the next month, GE expects to pick a site for the factory, which will employ about 350 manufacturing jobs in the upstate area. The plan is to break ground this year and be producing in 2011. The factory will be able to produce 10 million cells, the equivalent of 900 megawatt-hours worth of storage, Immelt said.

GE is an investor in lithium-ion battery company A123 Systems, which is also targeting automotive and grid energy storage customers. Immelt said GE's sodium technology should complement what A123 offers.

Immelt forecast that GE's battery business could grow to $500 million in sales by 2015 and eventually be a $1 billion business.

"We see lots of applications that are ready for this technology. We see those spaces exploding," he said, adding that GE intends to sell its products to customers outside the U.S.

The company will apply in the next month for federal stimulus money set aside to promote domestic battery manufacturing, but the company will build the facility regardless, Immelt said.

"The way to think about the stimulus money is it's an accelerator. It helps make technologies more competitive and move them more quickly," he said. "This has to be the vision of what the future of the country has to look like from a manufacturing standpoint."

Indian Wells, Calif.--General Electric is investing in a manufacturer, TPI Composites, that once made fiberglass boats but now has moved into making wind turbine blades and other industrial goods.

TPI Composites raised $20 million in a series B round from GE's investment arm, Landmark Growth Capital Partners, NGP Energy Technology Partners, and Angeleno Group.

The company makes composite materials for wind turbines, military vehicles, and other transportation applications. Its manufacturing process allows it to make materials that are strong and light, according to the company. It currently supplies turbine blades for some of GE's wind turbines and Mitsubishi Power Systems.

GE, which makes $14 billion in its Ecomagination business of environmentally themed products, has invested in a number of smaller renewable energy technology companies, including solar concentrator maker Soliant Energy.

In a statement, managing director of GE Energy Financial Services Kevin Walsh said that the investment fits GE's Ecomagination program and underscores the ability for the wind power industry to create jobs.

NISKAYUNA, N.Y.--With a 1914 electric car displayed outside, General Electric last week hosted a symposium on batteries for transportation and the electricity grid.

GE has been working on battery-powered vehicles for decades. Although those projects didn't yield mass-produced electric vehicles, GE executives said that the conditions for increased use of batteries on the grid and in vehicles have never been better.

The same conditions that are driving GE's initiative--a limit on natural resources like fossil fuels and fresh water as well as regulations to cut carbon emissions--make batteries a good area for research, said Mark Little, senior vice president and director of GE Global Research.

GE last week said that revenue under its Ecomagination program is expected to go up 21 percent this year to reach $17 billion. GE's annual clean technology research and development will go to $1.4 billion.

Even with the recent drop in oil prices, the trend toward battery-powered vehicles is strong because of high energy prices and the lower carbon footprint batteries have compared with gasoline engines, Little said.

"My own view is that even if 5 to 10 percent of vehicles become electrified, that's a huge opportunity," Little said.

GE is looking to work with Chrysler on a Department of Energy-sponsored research project for a battery-powered passenger car, Little said. The project, which has not yet been finalized, will involve using different types of batteries in a vehicle. GE is investing in further development of its sodium-metal chloride batteries, now used in train locomotives.

Last week, GE upped its investment in lithium-ion maker A123 Systems, injecting another $30 million in the company. GE is working with A123 Systems in integrating its batteries into the all-electric Think town car and a hybrid bus platform.

Both GE and A123 Systems are developing storage for power grid operators. Integrating several hours of storage on the grid would allow utilities to use the distribution network more efficiently and integrate intermittent wind and solar energy more.

General Electric's wind energy division is trying to find a "Goldilocks" turbine design, one that's not too big and not too small.

Like other wind manufacturers, GE is benefiting from booming demand for wind turbines in Europe and in the U.S., even with the possibility of a renewable-energy tax credit lapsing later this year.

Still, the rapid expansion is being throttled by high prices of steel and other commodities, making wind power more expensive.

So instead of making bigger and bigger machines, manufacturers are trying to squeeze more energy from conventionally sized wind turbines.

That will be done by using alternative materials, better electronics, and shaping turbine blades to better capture the wind, said Stephane Renou, who manages research and development for General Electric's wind technology platform.

"The optimal point is changing...and going bigger is not the answer," Renou said. "Turbines in the two or three megawatt zone are the most efficient and the best cost per kilowatt."

A 2 megawatt or 3 megawatt wind turbine is still large. The tower on a 2.5 megawatt machine can stand nearly 330 feet high.

But making 5 megawatt or 6 megawatt turbines, as some off-shore turbine makers are doing, also means more raw materials, notably steel, which drives up the cost. The logistics of delivering and assembling these massive components can add to costs as well.

To get more power from the same footprint, GE is looking at a variety of technologies, said Renou, who oversees development at four GE wind research centers around the world.

"I see a lot more technology going into each of the components, especially the blades," he said. "The blades will look more funky and twisted to get better performance."

By adding more carbon composite to turbine blades, GE can add 16 feet to their length, which translates into a significant boost of energy.

Although it's four times more expensive than fiberglass, carbon also gives blades more flexibility, allowing them to operate at higher wind speeds.

GE is also working on electronics controls to optimize performance and sound level of entire wind farms, Renou said.

Limits in transmission line capacity are a barrier to both wind and solar energy. Wind farms and solar plants are typically best placed in remote areas, far from the areas on the coast where demand for electricity is highest.

One of GE's research teams is developing software for modeling how to best place turbines in a wind farm while another is working on the electronic controls to get wind power fed into the grid most effectively.

Overall, Renou said that wind technology is developing quickly and is getting more competitive on a price-per-watt basis with natural gas generators, which themselves are going up in price.

But perhaps just as significant, having a range of materials and technologies to work with gives GE more flexibility in how to assemble a turbine. Supply chain disruptions have contributed to product shortages and project delays.

"We're working on supply-chain flexibility by providing different technology options," Renou said. "It's all about having options at this point. We will structure things to have all the raw materials at the right costs."

One area that GE's wind labs is not pursuing aggressively is energy storage. A handful of companies and utilities are looking at truck-sized batteries or underground compressed-air storage to incorporate renewable energy more reliably.

But Renou said that storage attached to wind turbines is not likely to happen in the next two years. Instead, beefed-up transmission lines, along with smarter power-grid management, could push wind to make up 10 percent of power generation, up from less than 1 percent now.

"The grid is a fantastic source of energy storage. Wind variability can be handled by the grid and grid management," he said. "It's more about policy and grid development."

Update at 3:22 p.m. PT: Text of first caption corrected.

General Electric is pledging to lower its water use 20 percent by 2012 and is boosting its revenue target for environmentally oriented products.

CEO Jeffrey Immelt said Wednesday at a customer presentation in Beijing that Ecomagination--GE's initiative to make goods that conserve energy and natural resources--brought in $14 billion in revenue last year, a 15 percent increase over the previous year.

GE, a tech, media, and finanical services conglomerate with more than 300,000 employees, had originally targeted $20 billion in revenue from Ecomagination by 2010, but on Wednesday raised the forecast to $25 billion by that time.

It also said that investments in clean-tech research and development topped $1 billion last year. Its target is to hit $1.5 billion in annual clean-tech investments this year.

As expected, GE announced a program at the event to reduce its internal water usage. It will report annually its water reductions progress, similar to how it now does with its carbon emissions.

The company said it intends to use its own water treatment technologies to reduce its consumption and free up 7.4 million cubic meters of fresh water a year. That's 2 billion U.S. gallons, or the equivalent of 3,000 Olympic-size swimming pools, GE said.

In 2006, which will serve as its baseline to measure future reductions, GE used 37,850,000 cubic meters, or 10 billion U.S. gallons, of fresh water--enough for almost 400,000 people in the U.S. per year, it said.

GE will reuse waste water at its manufacturing and power-generation facilities and seek to apply those techniques for agriculture, municipal water-treatment plants, and industrial customers.

The company made the water consumption commitment to highlight revenue growth from Ecomagination and the importance of fresh water technologies.

"Ecomagination is one of the most successful cross-company business initiatives in our recent history," Immelt said in a statement. "It is a clear amplifier of our strong reputation for innovation and execution, harnessing the strength of every GE business to maximize returns for GE investors while minimizing our own energy use and greenhouse gas emissions."

Your next lightbulb could come off a printing press.

General Electric's Global Research organization said Tuesday that it is the first to demonstrate roll-to-roll manufacturing for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs)--a move that can dramatically lower costs.

OLEDs have been touted as the next generation of lighting and displays for consumer electronics like TVs.

They are very energy-efficient, are made out of flexible material, and can be tuned to give off different colors of light.

As part of its Ecomagination initiative, GE is investing in the technology in an effort to make it a viable replacement for incandescent or fluorescent bulbs.

The demonstration of a roll-to-roll production, similar to how a newspaper is printed on rolls, has the potential to lower the manufacturing costs and make the end product cost-competitive with existing lighting, according to GE.

This printing process is being pursued by solar manufacturers as well, including Konarka, which is making solar cells from plastic.

GE demonstrated a transparent OLED, made at its research lab, to reporters last October and said it hoped to have OLED lighting devices available by 2010. (For a photo gallery of OLEDs and GE's Global Research lab, click here).

The roll-to-roll manufacturing machine will be used for further research, company said.

I have long had a respect for GE (NYSE:GE), and how it runs its business. In cleantech, I am very, very jealous. They have made themselves into the company to beat. Whether by plan, luck, or simply applying sound business discipline, GE has made itself into a top 3 global cleantech player no matter happens. And they did it for a fraction of the price, and a lot less risk than anyone in Silicon Valley or the energy sector. Venture capitalists beware, in cleantech, the behemoths have beat you to the punch, have done it cheaper, faster, and with more grit than you realize. (Read an interview with GE's vice president of Ecomagination.)

5 step Cleantech Program by GE

Wind - In 2002, GE bought Enron Wind out of Enron's bankruptcy for about $300 mm, making GE one of the top 5 wind players overnight (it's now well in excess of a billion in revenue). It was their first cleantech steal, right before the wind industry got amazingly tight (and huge).

Power - In 2003, GE acquired one of the leading gas engine manufacturers in Jenbacher, making GE an overnight leader in small, clean power systems, and powering their way into everything from distributed generation to landfill gas markets.

Solar - In 2004, just before the solar boom, GE acquired Astropower, one of the top 5 solar energy companies in the US, for less than $20 million out of bankrupcty, after the company was delisted following accounting irregularities. You cannot even build a single solar manufacturing line for $20 mm. Only the subsequent silicon supply shortages, and a lack of the needed investment in the business and next generation technology kept GE from making a homerun out of it. But despite that, there will never be another steal in solar quite like this.

Water - In 2005, GE acquired one of the largest water technology businesses in the US, Ionics, to complement its previous acqusitions in the water sector. Paying a full price of $1.1 Billion, it virtually guaranteed GE a top 5 position in the reverse osmosis, desalination, and water purification markets going forwrad, right after Ionics was shored up through a merger with Ecolochem.

Ecomagination Brand - Then on the back of these deals, in 2005 GE launched its Ecomagination initiative, and anchored the entire company's image around its new cleantech empire.

That, my friends, is the way you make money in cleantech venture capital. I would venture to guess that GE has made 10x its money, no matter how you spin it. Or put another way, an IPO of the GE cleantech business would be the hottest thing in years.

Neal Dikeman is a founding partner at Jane Capital Partners LLC, a boutique merchant bank advising strategic investors and startups in cleantech. He is founding contributor of Cleantech Blog, a Contributing Editor to Alt Energy Stocks, Chairman of Cleantech.org, and a blogger for CNET's Cleantech blog.

SunPower and General Electric Energy Financial Services are partnering to build solar power installations generating 8 megawatts in California by the end of the year.

The five projects include what could become the nation's largest solar panel installation on one roof, capable of 2.3 megawatts, at Toyota Motor Sales' Parts Center. Construction is set to start next month.

GE Energy Financial Services is acquiring a majority equity interest in the projects for an undisclosed amount. It will own the systems built and run by SunPower, a maker of high-efficiency solar panels.

The San Jose, Calif.-based company, which is owned by Cypress Semiconductor Corp., first partnered with GE's energy investment arm in 2006 on a solar plant in Portugal.

The four other plans for California include a 1-megawatt solar array covering eight buildings at an HP printer research and development center in San Diego.

A 1-megawatt solar tracking system atop a parking lot will provide shade and power for Agilent Technologies, a maker of scientific measurement tools, in Santa Rosa.

In northern Lake County, ground-mounted solar systems for a jail and two wastewater treatment plants will generate 2.4 megawatts. A 10-acre solar system will provide energy to a water district in Murrieta in the south.

SunPower's panels are also being set up at North America's largest solar installation, totaling 14.2 megawatts, at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. The company recently announced plans to build an 18 megawatt power plant in Spain.

GE Energy Financial Services manages $16 billion in assets and invests $5 billion annually in energy and water. It aims to dramatically expand its $2 billion renewable energy portfolio. Parent company GE has been making massive investments in renewable energy through its "ecomagination" campaign.

California's "million solar roofs" law came into effect one year ago, aiming for 3,000 megawatts, or 5 percent of the state's electricity, to be generated by solar power by 2017.