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1. Solar Firms Are Slashing Jobs
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2. Daily Sprout
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3. Why A123Systems Lost the Volt Battery Deal
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4. Stanford Launches $100M Energy Research Program
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5. Fisker Eye Candy: Convertible Karma "Sunset" Photos
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6. Algae Startup GreenFuel Cutting Almost Half Its Staff
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7. GM Officially Picks LG's Compact Power to Produce Volt Battery
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8. 10 Green Announcements From the Detroit Auto Show Kick-off
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9. GE, A-Power Team Up on Wind Turbines in China
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10. Tesla to Sell Even More Expensive Electric Car
Solar Firms Are Slashing Jobs
Katie Fehrenbacher - Energy
We’ve all read the ugly news: some 500,000 jobs lost in December, and layoffs happening all over the tech industry. And while the solar industry may be the darling of the media, venture capitalists and policy-makers, it isn’t immune to job losses. In fact, it seems to be suffering more than other sectors out there, as large manufacturers expect solar module prices to decline in 2009 and young solar startups that grew too big too fast struggle in the tighter market.
Last week thin-film solar maker OptiSolar said it is laying off 300, or almost half, of its employees — that includes 105 of the 175 employees at its plant in Sacramento, notes the Sacramento Bee and 185 workers in Hayward. OptiSolar was expecting that the 1-million-square-foot Sacramento plant, with a capacity of 600 MW per year, would be the largest PV manufacturing plant in North America when constructed.
Now OptiSolar’s plant construction is on hold until at least the second half of 2009, while the company looks for more funding and applies for a government loan guarantee. That’s got to make California utility PG&E nervous, as OptiSolar’s thin film material is supposed to supply a massive PV solar power plant in the desert to meet the state mandated goal of clean power as early as 2010. OptiSolar spokesperson Alan Bernheimer told us the layoffs are not expected to change the timeline of its solar power projects.
We’ve also heard rumors that solar thermal company Ausra has been cutting staff. An Ausra spokesperson we spoke with said that the company doesn’t comment on staffing decisions. SunEdison is reportedly doing significant layoffs, too.
But layoffs aren’t just happening for the solar startups. On Monday solar manufacturer SunTech said that it laid off 800 people, or 10 percent of its staff at the end of last year, and has curbed a plan to recruit 2,000 more workers.
In the last month, Day4 Energy, GT Solar, Emcore and Advanced Energy all have announced layoffs. Nat Bullard, a senior analyst at New Energy Finance, told us recently to expect a lot more of that in 2009.
Other large solar firms have announced delays, suspensions and scale-backs of solar plants, which often times means layoffs down the road. Last week, Intel-spin-off SpectraWatt said that it put its plans to build a factory in Hillsboro, Ore., on hold after being unable to secure financing. The delay is supposed to push back SpectraWatt's first solar-cell shipments by five or six months. Towards the end of 2008, German solar-cell manufacturer Q-Cells temporarily halted production at a factory, while U.S. solar-cell maker Evergreen Solar suspended plans for an $800 million factory in Asia and closed its pilot plant in Massachusetts.
Who knows how many more firms will be announcing, or admitting to layoffs, but we’d guess the first two weeks of 2009 are a solid indicator of a solar downsizing trend that will last many months.
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Daily Sprout
Josie Garthwaite - Misc
Why Little Guys Threaten the Big Three: Technology levels the playing field for a latecomer to the auto industry, China’s BYD, to compete with established manufacturers in the race to market an electric car. — Wall Street Journal
Audi’s Diesel Bet: While other automakers have gone gangbusters for hybrid and electric vehicles, Audi has bet on diesel taking the U.S. by storm with its 2010 A3 2.0 TDI. — Edmunds Inside Line
One Ethanol Squeeze, Coming Up: Ethanol producers are getting squeezed by rising corn prices (a rally that has “befuddled” analysts) and sagging oil prices. — Wall Street Journal
The Scoop on Green Power Programs: New analysis from Applied Materials and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory reveals why people sign up for electricity from renewable sources and how programs are administered. — NYT’s Green Inc.
Yes, We Can Drive Hybrids: A caravan of Saturn Vue hybrids left Detroit this morning and headed toward Washington, D.C. for the presidential inauguration. — Detroit Free Press
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Why A123Systems Lost the Volt Battery Deal
Josie Garthwaite - Automotive
Granted, GM has said it will continue working with A123 (and other battery makers) “to support several [battery] companies and technologies.” But why did A123 lose out to LG Chem’s Compact Power for the major deal? According to GM vice chairman Bob Lutz, the automaker wanted flat, lithium-ion. The risks involved with working with a startup also played a factor.
The Michigan Business Review reports this explanation from Lutz:
A123 is still sort of a startup, they’re still ramping up, and A123 has been specializing mostly in…cylindrical cells, which are good with power tools and stuff. What we need here is prismatic, which is flat cells. And LG Chem is just farther along.
As for the decision to go with the more established company, it represents a safe (and in this economy, smart) move for GM. The little Volt carried much of the weight of GM’s pitch to Congress for bailout funds, and it would be a risky bet to rely on a startup that itself needs government aid to build out manufacturing facilities.
Lutz added a jab at U.S. policymakers for failing to support energy storage technology R&D at the level of counterparts in South Korea (where LG Chem has it’s headquarters) and Japan (the world’s EV and laptop battery heavyweight). Again, as reported by the Michigan Business Review:
This is one of the things why we say, if we’re serious about the electrification of the automobile, as part of the national energy policy we do need government support for advanced battery development, which of course Japan has. LG Chem has massive support from the Korean government in terms of a whole research campus was paid for by the Korean government because Korea recognizes that advanced battery technology is a key component of the country’s competitiveness.”
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Stanford Launches $100M Energy Research Program
Katie Fehrenbacher - Startups
With the economy in the tank and layoffs happening across the cleantech sector, the next-generation of technology to fight climate change has been losing a lot of financing options. But here’s a bright spot: wealthy donors. Stanford University announced this afternoon that it is launching a $100 million program for a new initiative, the Precourt Institute for Energy, $40 million of which is designated for the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy.
The donation is one of the largest given for a specific program — Jay Precourt donated $50 million to the project, and Thomas Steyer and Kat Taylor donated $40 million. Other donors include Douglas Kimmelman, partner with Energy Capital Partners; Michael Ruffatto, president of North American Power Group; and the Schmidt Family Foundation. The funds will help bring in at least five new professors, 20 new fellowships and will also provide seed funding for new energy-related projects. This spring, Stanford will kick off that seed funding with a $2 million energy innovation business prize.
Update: Here’s some notes from a panel that included Google CEO Eric Schmidt, John Doerr, partner with Kleiner Perkins, Lynn Orr, the Director of the Precourt Institute for Energy, Sally Benson, director of Stanford's Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP), Jim Sweeney, director of Stanford’s Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency, and Jane Woodward, CEO of MAP.
Orr: The institute will work with at least 136 faculty across 21 disciplines.
Schmidt: None of the efficiency upgrades to Google’s buildings have really cost us materially because the payback is so short - around 18 months.
Doerr: Battery is the holy-grail. The US isn’t even in that race right now. Energy storage is very important.
I told Obama administration 6 things: 1). Use economic stimulus to create green jobs and smart grid. 2). Put a price on carbon. 3). Create a national renewable portfolio standard. 4). Set utility regulations and incentives so utilities are power partners to drive zero carbon environment. More money flows through markets in a day than in politics in a year. Lack of funding is near criminal. 5). Education, train them.
Schmidt: A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.
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Fisker Eye Candy: Convertible Karma "Sunset" Photos
Josie Garthwaite - Automotive
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Algae Startup GreenFuel Cutting Almost Half Its Staff
Katie Fehrenbacher - Startups
GreenFuel is encountering even more hurdles in its path to producing algae, fed with recycled CO2, that can be turned into biofuel. This time it’s the battered economy throwing up roadblocks, and the company has cut nearly half its staff, according to XConomy. One of the recently laid off folks confirmed the news in an email with us this morning. Update: GreenFuel also confirmed the layoffs with us as well.
The layoffs are yet another setback for the Massachusetts-based firm, which also did layoffs in 2008, and had set out a seven-step turnaround plan to help get it back on track. GreenFuels’ previous problems have included struggling to find a replacement CEO to take over for Polaris Ventures Bob Metcalfe (former Dow Chemical executive Simon Upfill-Brown became its CEO in July), and shutting down a greenhouse in Arizona after discovering that its algae-growing technology was more expensive than expected.
One part of the company’s seven-step plan was to raise a Series C round of financing. Last May, the company raised a $13.9 million Series B round from existing investors, including Access Private Equity, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Polaris Venture Partners. We never heard that the company completed that funding, and if the company is cutting spending, then financing is clearly a problem.
The former employee also said that the company had lost an important customer. Update: A GreenFuel spokesperson says that “the Aurantia project is still underway.” We’re waiting to hear back from GreenFuel if its deal with Spanish engineering company Aurantia is still intact. More when we know more.
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GM Officially Picks LG's Compact Power to Produce Volt Battery
Josie Garthwaite - Automotive
Today’s announcement comes on the heels of news from A123 Systems that it has applied for DOE loans to build a battery factory in Michigan, but the state is not an EV battery hot spot just yet: Compact Power plans to manufacture the Volt battery packs at its plant near Seoul, Korea. At higher volumes, LG Chem chief Bahn-suk Kim said the batteries could be produced stateside.
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10 Green Announcements From the Detroit Auto Show Kick-off
Josie Garthwaite - Automotive
Automakers kicked off this year’s North American International Auto Show, commonly called the Detroit Auto Show, yesterday with less glitz and more conspicuous frugality than in years past. But new plans for hybrid and electric models were hardly in short supply. Things picked up again this morning — here’s a round-up of the big news so far:
Toyota Plans Global EV Rollout: Toyota announced plans to launch an all-electric city car in the U.S. earlier this month. But not until today did an executive reveal the company’s scheme to roll out the electric vehicle (based on the FT-EV concept) in Japan, Europe and the U.S. by 2012.
BYD to Hit U.S. in 2011: BYD Auto Co. said it plans to sell its electric e6 concept and F6DM plug-in hybrid sedan in the U.S. by 2011. The China-based auto and battery maker unveiled the e6 in Detroit today, pledging a 250-mile range on a single charge.
Tesla to Go Sportier, More Expensive Before it Goes Mass Market: Silicon Valley electric car startup Tesla Motors unveiled plans to build a sportier version of its Tesla Roadster called the Roadster Sport (which goes from 0 to 60 in 3.7 seconds vs. 3.9 seconds, the company claims). While Tesla has long talked of launching a mass-market vehicle with a lower price tag than that of the $109,000 Roadster, it’s looking to sell the Sport for $128,500. According to Tesla, which has a history of delays, deliveries of the Sport, which will contain the same powertrain planned for the elusive Model S sedan, will begin in June.
Lexus Debuts High-End, More Efficient Hybrid: We noted earlier this month that Toyota Motor Corp. planned to debut a Lexus hybrid sedan — the 2010 HS250h — in Detroit. Now we have details: The car is slated to go for less than $40,000 and hit showrooms in late summer. Lexus said yesterday the HS250h will get 30 percent better fuel economy than the RX 400h hybrid’s combined 25 mpg.
Chrysler Gets Heavy on the Gizmos for Electric Concept Vehicle: Chrysler unveiled an extended-range electric concept car called the 200C EV. The company said its line of plugin, hybrid and extended-range electric prototypes “clearly demonstrates that we are well on our way to bringing electric vehicles to our consumers’ garages.” And the company has loaded up this new midsized sedan with its Uconnect system, which the company said will let users create a network of “buddy vehicles” and track them on a screen in the dash. As the New York Times reports, Chrysler envisions a slide-out computer for the passenger riding shotgun and a feature allowing parents to set driving limits for young drivers. Interesting ideas, but not the low-cost, advanced technology Chrysler pitched in its bailout plea.
Jeep Patriot to Join Chrysler’s EV Lineup: The smallest of Motor City’s Big Three revealed plans yesterday to add the Jeep Patriot, a compact SUV, to its lineup of electrified versions of existing models. Chrysler expects the extended-range electric Patriot to have a 40-mile all-electric range and up to 400 miles with support from a small gas engine.
GM Unveils Electric Cadillac: General Motors debuted an extended-range electric concept coupe with front-wheel drive called the Cadillac Converj. The company said a battery pack with 220 lithium-ion cells will take three hours to charge and deliver a 40-mile, all-electric range.
Honda Insight Back in Business: After going out of production a few years ago, Honda launched generation two of its hybrid Insight with the debut of a 2010 model yesterday in Detroit, and plans to roll the cars out to Japan showrooms as early as next month. As we noted in our preview of the show, the car is set to carry a price tag lower than that of the Honda Civic. CNET test drove the new Insight last month and has a detailed review this morning.
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GE, A-Power Team Up on Wind Turbines in China
David Ehrlich - Big Green
Fairfield, Conn.-based General Electric is already one of the biggest manufacturers of wind turbines in the world, but it could be expanding its reach in Asia with a move announced today to form a joint venture with Shenyang, China’s A-Power Energy Generation Systems to manufacture wind turbine gearboxes in the country.
GE also signed a deal to supply A-Power, which provides distributed power generation systems in China, with more than 900 2.7-megawatt gearboxes beginning in 2010. GE currently builds its gearboxes in Erie, Penn., through its GE Drivetrain Technologies unit. Financial terms of the supply deal and the joint venture agreements were not disclosed.
The new joint venture will be majority owned by GE Drivetrain Technologies and will serve as the unit’s Southeast Asia manufacturing center, with GE and A-Power planning to serve wind power customers in the region starting in mid-2010.
The companies didn’t say where the new plant will be set up, or how big it will be, but A-Power, which entered the wind power business last year, opened its first wind turbine production facility yesterday in Shenyang. That plant uses technology licensed from Germany’s Fuhrlander. A-Power said the Shenyang plant is currently the largest wind turbine facility in China, with total annual production capacity of more than 1.1 GW. The company plans to sell those turbines to both domestic and foreign markets.
That domestic market could be the most important, with the growing Chinese wind market already ranking at No. 5 in the world for installed wind power capacity, according to BusinessWeek. The country currently has about 6 GW of installed capacity, but the government is aiming for much more, targeting 30 GW by 2020.
Last month, Netherlands renewable energy developer Econcern got in on the growing market, announcing plans to build four wind farms with more than 720 MW of total capacity. Econcern will work on the projects with CNOOC New Energy, part of state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp., and Sinohydro Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of Sinohydro Corp., another state-owned business.
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Tesla to Sell Even More Expensive Electric Car
Katie Fehrenbacher - Automotive
Some of the first news we heard coming out of the Detroit Auto Show, which kicked off on Sunday, is that Silicon Valley electric car maker Tesla will be offering a high-performance “Roadster Sport” which will cost about $20,000 more than its currently available luxury Roadster. In light of the fact that Tesla has basically put its cheaper Model S on the back burner (with Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently hedging on whether or not the Model S factory was assured), we don’t think going even more luxury is a good direction for Tesla. And it’s another indication that Tesla is being forced to move away from its previous plans to become a more mainstream electric car maker.
Musk has long maintained that he envisioned Tesla as one day offering a mainstream, even $20,000 or $30,000 electric vehicle, to the masses, and only started building the high-end $109,000-priced electric Roadster as a way to move into a more mainstream electric vehicle technology. Like cell phones or other new technology, he insisted that the way into the electric vehicle market was through a luxury car and that over time the price of building the cars would naturally come down.
But in the face of difficult economic times and an apparent underestimation of the capital involved in becoming a mainstream car maker, Tesla has been forced to hunker down and focus on getting out the long-promised Roadster to customers. And now at one of the biggest auto shows of the year the company is actually moving more in the luxury direction, offering its current Roadster customers the ability to upgrade to the Roadster Sport. Tesla seems like it’s finally waking up from its dream of being an electric car maker for the masses.
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