The PV inverter market, once short of innovation, has seen a surge of investment in the last few years. Spurred by startup advances, established firms like SMA, Satcon, and National Semiconductor are developing new distributed PV electronics technologies in-house or through acquisition. This Special Report from Greentech Media, sponsored by Enphase Energy, takes a look at the state of innovation in the inverter market, VC investment activity, and the emerging leaders in the $2.4 billion PV inverter market.
Download now »As the price of PV falls, the technology will become more competitively priced in Europe and the U.S. before its prices are competitive in China.
The solar firm was founded in 2006 with A round funding from Kleiner Perkins and claims its process could increase the efficiency of conventional amorphous silicon PV by up to 150 percent.
The new loan guarantee program will support as much as $8 billion in loans for power plants using more mature solar, wind and other technologies.
The European Commission releases a new technology plan to curb carbon emissions, and includes a Smart Cities Initiative for the first time to promote energy efficiency measures.
The Germany solar company plans to more than double its production of solar cells and panels in the United States by 2011. The company appears to be lagging behind three competitors in the California market, an analyst says.
It looks like a problem of growing pains, but PG&E CEO Pete Darbee says that the price of renewable power has been trickling uphill.
The Arizona startup has signed up suppliers for two key components of its SunCatcher, which uses the Stirling engine to generate electricity.
A new GTM Research report looks at the dynamics of China’s power industry and how they would affect the deployment of solar policies.
Wacker Chemie is giving up its share of the solar wafer business with Schott to focus on making silicon at a time when silicon prices have dived.
The solar factory tool maker said it’s negotiating to sell a majority stake in a project development company to Uni-Chem. Uni-Chem also has bought equipment to set up shop in the U.S.
The newly elected center-right coalition could cut the country’s solar incentive, causing developers to hurry up and complete their projects before new policy is in place.
The Treasury is doling out a second round of money for its cash-instead-of-tax credit program, benefiting not only renewable energy developers but also manufacturers such as Solyndra and Vestas.
The German company’s CEO Frank Asbeck has rallied for regulations to protect European solar companies against Asian competitors. He is now calling for lowering the feed-in tariff.
The solar thermal energy developer decided to bow out of an area that may receive the national monument designation, which would prevent other solar companies from continuing their projects also.
A spat over licensing and labor couldn’t be resolved by state lawmakers when they considered a bill to expand the net metering program for solar and wind energy system owners.
CEO Michael Ahearn says First Solar plans to carry out an ‘IP transfer’ by training Chinese companies how to engineer solar power projects.
The solar thin-film company has signed a preliminary agreement for the project in Inner Mongolia. It appears to be the first non-Chinese equipment maker to announce such a large-scale power plant.
The Great Canadian Feed-In Tariff is weeks away from being launched. Can Ontario create something worth pursuing?
A state Senate committee voted to set the cap at 3.5 percent instead of the 5 percent in an earlier version of the bill, which sets out to expand a program that has largely benefited solar energy system owners.
The state wants to require utilities to buy renewable power from developers of 1-megawatt to 10-megawatt installations. But regulators won’t set fixed prices.
There seems to be a growing call for regulations to protect European solar companies from producers mostly from China. China and the U.S., meanwhile, aim to protect their domestic companies.
Virgin Green Fund has only invested in a few companies, but it covers a large portion of the green spectrum.