Smart Energy News

Mountain View, Calif. – Daintree Networks, a Mountain View-based developer of wireless building automation systems for reducing energy consumption, announced on Monday that it has raised $8 million in a round of venture capital from Lend Lease, an investment firm focused on clean energy technologies.

Founded in 2003, Daintree recently narrowed its focus to lighting control products for large commercial real estate properties. The company is developing a wireless product for retrofitting existing buildings with energy saving lighting control systems. Its open-standards network architecture is suitable for controlling a single office, entire floor, or multi-building installation, according to the company.

Daintree markets it products through lighting and controls companies. The company said it will use the new investment funds for worldwide expansion as well as ongoing technology and product development.

In addition to its U.S. headquarters, Daintree has R&D facilities in Melbourne, Australia.

Daintree Networks website

Lend Lease website

Sunnyvale, Calif. — Integrated Photovoltaics (IPV), a Sunnyvale-based developer of photovoltaic technology, has raised $8.5 million in its first round of venture capital, which was led by Peninsula Ventures and included participation from I2BF, Alloy Ventures and Labrador Ventures.

Not much has been publicly disclosed about IPV yet, which is operating in “stealth mode.” The company said it will use the new investment funds to continue development of its photovoltaic technology, which it says is designed to “dramatically reduce the cost of generating electricity.”

“IPV’s technology will have significant implications for the market, and the company’s capital-efficient approach will allow them to address a very sizable market opportunity with VC-levels of capital,” said Sam Lee, a partner at Peninsula Ventures, commenting on the investment.

Integrated Photovoltaics website (under construction)

Peninsula Ventures website

Bend, Ore. – Advanced Energy Industries, a maker of power and control technologies for thin-film manufacturing and solar-power generation, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire PV Powered, a privately held producer of solar inverters, for an undisclosed price.

Founded in 2003 and based in Bend, Ore., PV Powered supplies a product line of 15 grid-tied PV inverters for the residential, commercial, and utility markets, including for systems up to 1 megawatt in size. The company has a staff of around 100 people.

PV Powered was recently selected to receive a Stage 2 award under the Solar Energy Grid Integration System program by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Publicly traded Advanced Energy (Nasdaq:AEIS) manufactures industrial power conversion products that transform power into various usable forms. Its products are used in manufacturing processes that use thin-film deposition for semiconductor devices, flat panel displays, solar panels, and architectural glass, as well as grid-tie power converters in the solar market.

“The combination of Advanced Energy and PV Powered will bring together two complimentary technology platforms and provide customers with the broadest range of solutions for residential to utility-scale solar installations,” said Hans Betz, CEO of Advanced Energy, in an announcement. “We believe this acquisition will firmly place Advanced Energy at the heart of the emerging and fast growing solar inverter market.”

After the acquisition is finalized, PV Powered will operate as a subsidiary of Advanced Energy and continued to be based in Bend.

PV Powered website

Advanced Energy website

Fairfield, Conn. – GE announced on Thursday that it plans to invest about $450 million to expand its wind turbine manufacturing, engineering facilities in the U.K., Norway, Sweden and Germany, part of the company’s plan to tap into Europe’s growing offshore wind energy industry.

GE’s next generation wind turbine, a 4-megawatt machine, is designed specifically for offshore deployment. It is the largest wind turbine in GE’s product line, incorporating drive train and control technologies obtained through GE’s acquisition of ScanWind. The turbine will also feature GE’s technology that eliminates the need for gearboxes.

GE newest wind turbine is currently being demonstrated at a test site in Hundhammerfjellet, Norway, where the first ScanWind direct drive unit has been operating for more than five years.

Also in Norway, the company plans to create a new Offshore Technology Development Center in Oslo, and will expand its advanced demonstration unit production and service facilities in Verdal.

GE also will expand its current offshore wind facilities in Sweden with a Conceptual and Systems Design Center in Karlstad. A technology demonstration unit is planned to be installed in Gothenburg harbor, and the company will join the Chalmers Wind Energy Center in Gothenburg. This will result in about 50 jobs and a $67 million investment related to GE’s offshore wind business in Sweden by 2016, the company said.

A new engineering center in Hamburg, Germany will house product development, application engineering operations. The company also plans to expand its resources at its existing wind turbine manufacturing facility in Salzbergen, as well as the GE Global Research Center in Munich. This will result in about 100 jobs and a $140 million investment related to GE’s offshore wind business in Germany by 2016.

In the U.K., GE plans to establish its offshore wind turbine manufacturing operations. The company also will locate application and service engineering resources in the country and will bring partners and suppliers of towers, blades, nacelles and other offshore wind components to the manufacturing facility. The plan will result in up to $147 million investment related to GE’s offshore wind business in the U.K. and could ultimately create about 2,000 jobs by 2020, the company said.

GE Wind Energy website

San Francisco – Cisco, the major IT network equipment maker, has made a venture capital investment of undisclosed amount in Grid Net, a privately held developer of smart grid technologies for utilities and their customers.

Founded in 2005, Grid Net provides network management software and communications product reference designs for the utility industry’s smart grid. The company’s software also supports the delivery of smart metering and power distribution automation.

In 2008, Grid licensed its WiMAX smart meter reference design to GE Energy for use in GE’s meter products. GE is also an investor in Grid Net, as are Intel and Catamount Ventures.

Grid Net launched its partner program in the fourth quarter of 2009, and said that it expects to grow this program substantially going forward. The company’s commercial partners include GE, Intel, Motorola, Clearwire, and others.

Grid Net website