Silver Spring Networks topped Inc. Magazine’s rankings. The editors at Inc. magazine have released their rankings of the 5,000 fastest-growing companies in America. The list offers an interesting snapshot of where growth is taking place in the energy sector. The boom in America’s unconventional oil and gas development is clearly evident on the list. Out of the 110 energy… Keep reading →
By Anna Andrianova Select solar stocks have been on a tear lately. SunPower, First Solar and Elon Musk’s SolarCity have had increases of between 60 percent and over 100 percent year-to-date. So for those of you who think you’ve missed the solar run-up or are searching for a new entry point into the solar space—consider solar crowdfunding. Sites such as… Keep reading →
Honda, in an attempt to keep its Fit EV electric cars in the eyes of consumers mostly looking at the Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt, has dropped the price of the monthly lease. The drop, which was effective at the beginning of June, lowered for new and existing leases from $389 to $259. The new three year… Keep reading →
By Herb Greenberg SolarCity, with its shares up more than 50 percent in a little more than a week, may go down as the poster child of the sizzling market for this round of nuttiness for solar stocks. Yet, as Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov is quick to point out, the market gains are after… Keep reading →
Structuring renewable energy projects that provide acceptable investment returns is often helped by using feed in tariffs in European and other markets, but tax equity vehicles are more common in the US. Tax equity arrangements can be structurally complicated and difficult to administer, but can also provide double-digit returns when done properly.
These were some of the issues discussed by an expert panel at the AGRION Energy Summit and Sustainability Meeting held this week in New York City. The production tax credit for wind projects – recently extended for one year after much controversy – and the investment tax credit for solar are two tax equity vehicles commonly used in the US to help finance projects. Keep reading →
Poor performance for cleantech stocks this year may continue in 2013 despite some silver linings during 2012, a leading analyst and a panel of VCs recently warned.
Kevin Genieser, Managing Director and Global Head of Clean Technology Banking at Morgan Stanley, said that cleantech equities had underperformed this year despite a bright start to 2012 with three IPOs in the sector. Keep reading →
Energy efficiency and solar are the low hanging fruit for American companies both at home and overseas, former President Bill Clinton said yesterday.
“We should pick the low hanging fruit. It always begins with efficiency. We’re much more energy efficient than we used to be but we have not made a serious attempt to get it to scale,” Clinton said in the closing keynote of the National Clean Energy Conference in Las Vegas last week. Keep reading →
California energy regulators believe energy storage capacity could reach up to 8,000 MW by 2020, and could be further accelerated by renewables targets and the ongoing closure of one of two of the state’s nuclear power plants.
Michael Gravely, deputy chief of R&D at the California Energy Commission said he anticipated “fairly substantial amount of increase in services” in energy storage to balance the grid and integrate renewables over the next decade. Keep reading →
The solar industry is moving into a low-cost future overshadowed by technology changes, but is still growing quickly.
The solar industry weathered a somewhat cloudy year, rife with the political consequences of the Solyndra bankruptcy, rapidly falling prices for photovoltaic (PV) modules, and the impending expiration of the federal cash grant that has existed in lieu of a similarly lucrative but harder to obtain investment tax credit. Keep reading →
When global demand for solar photovoltaic (PV) panels tapered off this year, Chinese manufacturers were left with stockpiles of supply just waiting to be sold.
When these manufacturers began “dumping” their supply into the American market, prices for panels suddenly plummeted and companies like Solyndra felt the effects. One German solar manufacturer, SolarWorld, decided to take action by filing an anti-trade legislation with the US government. Keep reading →
