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1. SpectraWatt Suspends Factory Plans, Expects Production Delay
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2. SolFocus Raises $47.5M for Concentrating PV Solar
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3. NY Gov Calls for More Energy Efficiency
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4. SunEdison Lands Deal for 259 MW PV on Mall Roofs
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5. Daily Sprout
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6. Nano 1.0 Still MIA, But Tata's in Talks for a Micro-Hybrid
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7. John Doerr Mentions Kleiner's Stealthy Lithium Ion Battery Startup
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8. Suntech Reaches 1GW of Solar Manufacturing Capacity
SpectraWatt Suspends Factory Plans, Expects Production Delay
Jennifer Kho - Energy
Intel solar spinoff SpectraWatt has put its plans to build a factory in Hillsboro, Ore., on hold after being unable to get enough financing, The Oregonian reported this week.
CEO Andrew Wilson told the newspaper that SpectraWatt is searching for an existing building that it could retrofit for less, and it is considering leaving the state. He also said the change of plans will delay SpectraWatt's first solar-cell shipments by five or six months.
The company, which was raising a $50 million round of funding led by Intel in June, said then that it expected to ship its first solar cells from a 60-megawatt factory in the middle of this year. SpectraWatt didn’t respond to requests for more information Thursday afternoon.
The setback is the latest sign of tough times for solar companies. As a recession is making capital scarce, analysts are predicting an oversupply of solar panels that could lead to a pricing plunge. Jenny Chase, a senior associate for solar at New Energy Finance, expects some 4 gigawatts of panels to go begging this year.
Signs of trouble are everywhere. For one, take all the layoffs. In just the last month, Day4 Energy (s DFE), GT Solar, Emcore and Advanced Energy all have announced layoffs, and analysts say more are coming.
"There's going to be a lot of that," said Nathaniel Bullard, a senior analyst at New Energy Finance. "Expansion plans are difficult to do and it's hard for people to forecast the market [in the next year]. Margins are going to be compressed." Of course, layoffs are happening all over the technology map.
Other solar projects also are being canceled and delayed. In November, BP Solar announced that it would close a solar-cell factory in Sydney at the end of March. The news came after the company in October scrapped a $97 million expansion it had planned for a solar-ingot factory in Maryland. In December, German solar-cell manufacturer Q-Cells temporarily halted production at its factory, to clear stock, while U.S. solar-cell maker Evergreen Solar suspended plans for an $800 million factory in Asia and closed its pilot plant in Massachusetts.
And earlier this week, LDK Solar reported that its first polysilicon plant had not fully ramped up by the end of last year, as previously promised, and now expects to reach full production in the middle of this year. The company plans to produce between 3,000 and 5,000 metric tons of polysilicon this year instead of the previously expected 5,000 to 7,000 metric tons.
At the same time there are a few brighter signs pointing in the opposite direction. Suniva last month opened a 32-megawatt solar-cell factory in Georgia and plans to grow its capacity to more than 100 megawatts in the next two years. Sharp Corp. also said this week it would build a previously announced solar plant by the end of this year, which is earlier than expected.
Industry insiders believe there's light at the end of the tunnel. With climate-change and energy-security concerns growing globally, analysts say they have no doubt that the solar industry will survive this downturn, and it could come out ahead if lower prices gain it a larger market. But before that happens, you can expect more bad news ahead.
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SolFocus Raises $47.5M for Concentrating PV Solar
Katie Fehrenbacher - Energy
Solar firms dominated cleantech investments in 2008 — will the sector continue its stranglehold on VC dollars in 2009? Well, solar funding is off to a promising start. On Friday SolFocus, which builds solar power plants that concentrate the sun’s rays onto photovoltaics, will announce it has raised $47.5 million in the first tranche of a series C round. The company had reportedly been looking to raise closer to $60 million to $80 million for this round, and SolFocus confirmed with us that the entire round will likely be closer to $60 million to $70 million, with the second tranche of funding likely closed later this month.
The large round was led by Apex Venture Partners and also included New Enterprise Associates and NGEN Partners, and SolFocus says the funds will be spent on boosting manufacturing from a half a megawatt in 2008 to 100MW by the end of 2010. Yes, they will need a lot of money for that. The company has already raised $95 million, so this will bring the company to a very sizable $143 million.
In addition to the funding, SolFocus said Mark Crowley, who has acted as SolFocus’ president since August of 2008, will take over as the company’s CEO. SolFocus former CEO Gary D. Conley will remain as the company’s chairman and founder, positions he presently holds. It’s not uncommon for a company to bring on a new CEO as the company moves into larger scale production and commercialization.
When it comes to concentrating photovoltaics (CPV), SolFocus is one of the leaders. The technology uses mirrors and lenses to concentrate sunlight onto tiny, highly-efficient solar cells. Smaller cells means the solar project can cut down on the expensive silicon-based solar panel. The systems usually deliver considerably more power than a solar panel on a rooftop but not as much as the massive solar thermal plants that are being built in the deserts.
While there are dozens of CPV players emerging (here are 13 of them) SolFocus is moving faster into commercialization than most. In November the company, which has a European headquarters in Madrid, Spain, announced that it signed a $103 million (€80M) agreement with EMPE Solar to install more than 10 megawatts (MW) of its concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) technology — enough power for 40,000 residents — in Southern Spain. SolFocus says this will be the largest CPV deployment in the world. The company also completed its portion of a 3 MW CPV installation owned by Spain's Institute of Concentration Photovoltaic Systems (ISFOC).
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NY Gov Calls for More Energy Efficiency
David Ehrlich - Big Green
New York Governor David Paterson set some lofty goals for energy efficiency and renewable power in his first state of the state address yesterday, aiming to cut electricity use by 15 percent and raise the Renewable Portfolio Standard to 30 percent by 2015 in the Empire State.
Calling it the “45 by ‘15″ plan, Paterson said the new targets will create 50,000 new jobs for New Yorkers, making him the latest in a growing list of politicians and groups touting the job creation potential of big cleantech projects. Earlier this week, the GridWise Alliance, a smart-grid industry group, said up to 280,000 new jobs could be created across the country from the deployment of a smart grid in the U.S. And in President-elect Barack Obama’s first weekly radio address of the new year, he pushed for a doubling of the country’s renewable energy production as part of a plan to add 3 million new jobs in the States.
In his speech, Paterson said energy has become too expensive, too unpredictable, and too damaging to the environment. “It is time to make New York more energy independent and more energy efficient, to develop our own sources of clean and renewable energy, and to build new statewide systems for energy generation, transmission, and distribution.”
Boosting the Renewable Portfolio Standard would put New York well ahead of California, a leader in environmental reforms in the country, which is targeting 33 percent by 2020. Today, New York produces about 21 percent of its electricity from renewables, including 19 percent from hydro. The current RPS goal for the state is 25 percent by 2013.
Paterson is also big on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, announcing the creation of an upstate research consortium for hybrid electric batteries and energy storage technologies to be led by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
The governor didn’t discuss the cost of all these new initiatives, but in his executive budget proposal released last month he asked for more money from utilities, potentially producing $651.6 million in additional revenue for the state, with some of that cash to be used to encourage energy conservation.
New York currently collects a 0.33 percent of utilities’ gross revenues to offset the cost of state energy services. Paterson’s budget would raise that figure to 1 percent permanently, with a 2 percent charge for the 2011-12 fiscal year.
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SunEdison Lands Deal for 259 MW PV on Mall Roofs
Josie Garthwaite - Energy
This week’s announcement comes on the heels of a major blow dealt by regulators to Duke Energy and its North Carolina solar rooftop program, which could put utility ownership of distributed-generation solar systems on ice. That could be a boon for SunEdison, as utility contracts could be even more valuable than the malls of America. Of course, we can debate the pros and cons of distributed rooftop solar vs. massive desert solar thermal plants, but that’s another post.
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Daily Sprout
Josie Garthwaite - Misc
Bush Takes a Pass on MPG Rulemaking: The Bush administration has forfeit the job of raising fuel-efficiency targets to President-elect Obama’s incoming team, citing “recent financial difficulties of the automobile industry.” — Washington Post
Solaria Gears Up for 100MW Production: Spire will supply Solaria Energia with module manufacturing equipment for a 100 megawatt production line at its new plant in Fuenmayor, Spain. — PV Tech
Panic Now? How About Now?: With government focus shifting away from the fringes of the energy economy and gas prices tanking, what does the future look like for clean technology? George Tolley, John Whitehead, and Ethan Zindler convene in the ether to discuss. — NYT’s Freakonomics
Exxon CEO: Carbon Tax or Bust: “My greatest concern is that policy makers will attempt to mandate or ordain solutions that are doomed to fail,” such as a cap-and-trade system, said ExxonMobil chief Rex Tillerson. “A carbon tax would be a more direct and transparent approach.” Dow Jones
Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth (or at Least D.C.): The stock of science has fallen among feds in the last eight years. Now, as the incoming president makes good on a promise to welcome scientists into his administration, it’s rising. — The Economist
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Nano 1.0 Still MIA, But Tata's in Talks for a Micro-Hybrid
Josie Garthwaite - Automotive
Micro-hybrids are not true hybrid fuel systems, but Bosch says its technology can boost in-town fuel economy by up to 8 percent: Gasoline alone propels the vehicle, but the engine shuts down when it’s at rest. Electricity from the battery instantly restarts the engine when the driver hits the accelerator.
Two years ago, Bosch forecast that start-stop technology would appear in 1 out of every 5 cars by 2015. So far, BMW, Mini, Fiat, and Kia have come on board. While the system represents a relatively inexpensive add-on, it would add up to 6,000 rupee, or about $125 to the the price tag for the Nano — not insignificant for a car whose chief selling point is affordability. If Tata can ramp to the 100,000 annual production it originally envisioned for the Nano, the deal could be a good score for Bosch. Like Tata, the company has idled factories in recent months in response to slumping global demand.
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John Doerr Mentions Kleiner's Stealthy Lithium Ion Battery Startup
Katie Fehrenbacher - Policy
John Doerr, the prominent cleantech venture capitalist for Kleiner Perkins, gave his standard earnest speech before a Senate Committee hearing on how greentech investing can spur the economy on Wednesday morning. As per usual, he first chided the U.S. for not doing enough to cut carbon emissions and invest in cleantech, and then laid out his broad plan on what to do next.
But for industry-watchers interested in Kleiner’s portfolio, it’s worth pointing out that Doerr mentioned a new “stealth mode” lithium-ion battery maker. He says the unnamed startup “creates stable, durable lithium ion batteries with higher effective storage capacity” that can power electric vehicles “twice as far, and eventually three times as far, to over 100 miles before recharging.”
Doerr also gave a few clues on the company’s origins and future plans — supposedly the startup was found “outside the U.S.,” but is building manufacturing plants in the Midwest and will ship batteries at the end of the year. Doerr positioned the company as no less than an automotive breakthrough and said: “This technology could be a key driver for the electrification and revitalization of our automotive industry, helping us retain and create many jobs.”
Kleiner has openly invested in electric car companies, like Fisker Automotive, that will use lithium-ion batteries and in energy storage company EEStor (though Kleiner Perkins doesn’t list the company on its web site). EEStor says its energy storage technology for vehicles can provide 10 times the energy of lead-acid batteries at one-tenth the weight and half the price, and move a car 400 kilometers after a five-minute charge. But EEStor isn’t working on lithium-ion batteries that we know of.
Kleiner has previously invested in deals where Khosla Ventures (founded by former Kleiner partner Vinod Khosla) has done early seed stage funding. That firm has backed Sakti3, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company developing a next-generation lithium-ion battery for electric vehicles. According to this Detroit Free Press article (one of the only detailed ones we’ve seen on the company) Sakti3 will build factories to turn Michigan “into a major producer of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.” But also, according to the article, Sakti3’s technology is based on research conducted at University of Michigan — not overseas.
If anyone has ideas on Kleiner’s secretive lithium ion battery company, add them in the comments or email us.
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Suntech Reaches 1GW of Solar Manufacturing Capacity
David Ehrlich - Big Green
China’s Suntech Power Holdings announced a big milestone today, hitting 1 gigawatt (GW) of photovoltaic cell and module production capacity in Wuxi, nearly doubling the firm’s 2007 output of 540 megawatts.
Today’s news comes after a tough year for solar stocks, with shares of Suntech, Yingli Green Energy, JA Solar and Evergreen Solar all losing more than 80 percent of their value in 2008. But Suntech’s big production capacity could help it ride out the economic storm; the larger output could help push prices down for the company’s solar cells and modules, which could attract more buyers. Suntech CEO Zhengrong Shi said last month that an expected oversupply of polysilicon this year could cut the company’s prices event further — 20-30 percent compared with the third quarter of 2008.
The company has plans to grow even bigger. Suntech broke ground in September on a new 300-MW PV cell production facility in Yangzhou that’s expected to help push Suntech’s capacity to 1.4 GW by the end of this year and 2 GW by the end of 2010.
The new plant in Yangzhou will be a two-hour drive from headquarters in Wuxi, but it will be close to Suntech’s silicon supply partner, Shunda Holdings. Last May, Suntech acquired a minority stake in Shunda from private equity firm Actis and the Waichun Investment Fund for $98.9 million, announcing a 7-GW, 13-year silicon supply agreement with Shunda at the time.
Suntech also officially opened its new solar-powered headquarters building in Wuxi today. It has a 1 MW, grid-connected, building-integrated solar facade, which the company said is the largest in the world. The 193,750-square-foot building uses more than 2,552 of Suntech’s Light Thru semi-transparent solar panels, and features energy-efficient building materials, geothermal temperature control, smart lighting and a water recycling system.
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