Silicon Valley venture capitalists like to crow that it’s now cheaper than ever to establish a startup company. While that may be true for internet firms, the amount of money required to fund a Silicon Valley green tech startup can be mind-boggling.
Case in point is fuel cell maker Bloom Energy, which Fortune today reported had taken its total raised to $1.1 billion, thanks to a new $130 million round. The company is one of Silicon Valley VCs' last big bets on green tech, with funding from Kleiner Perkins
Renewable energy has not yet won the battle for market share over fossil fuels but it appears to be doing well when it comes to mind share, according to a survey by Dow Jones’ Factiva service.
MiaSolé, the Silicon solar startup that raised close to half a billion dollars from top venture capitalists to develop advanced photovoltaic technology, is being sold to Chinese renewable energy conglomerate Hanergy for $30 million. The fire sale, first reported by David Baker of the San Francisco Chronicle, shows that even as the Chinese solar industry struggles with its own severe financial problems China is poised to scoop up U.S. technology on the cheap.
The U.S. Army is looking for a few good renewable energy projects. Some $7 billion worth.
In recent months, the renewable energy industry has been fighting in Congress to extend U.S. subsidies for green power projects while a group of solar companies press an unfair trade complaint against China.
Bad move, Michael Liebreich, chairman of Bloomberg New EnergyFinance, told industry leaders Tuesday at the market research firm’s annual Summit conference in New York. That’s because the wind and solar executives are fighting the last war, which is a losing proposition, according to Liebreich.
California has one of the nation’s most ambitious renewable energy mandates – 33% of its electricity must be carbon free by 2020 – yet the price of that power had long remain locked in a black box, kept confidential by state regulators. Not any longer. Forced by a new law to publish the electricity rates of utility contracts it has approved, the California Public Utilities Commission on Friday issued a report detailing what green energy costs consumers.
