Smart Energy News

San Francisco – SunRun, a provider of solar power to home customers, has raised $55 million in a round of venture capital that was led by Sequoia Capital. The company said it plans to use the financing to expand into new U.S. markets.

Founded in 2007, SunRun finances home solar installations with little or no down payment and fixed financing spread over 18 to 20 years. The company has partnered with PG&E Corp. and U.S. Bancorp for project financing.

Earlier this month, PG&E announced a $100 million tax equity project financing agreement to fund SunRun’s installation of more than 3,500 new home solar installations across the U.S.

SunRun said its customer base has grown by over 400% in the past year. The company now has over 4,500 home solar customers in five states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

The company partners with local solar system installers in the markets that it serves, while it focuses on financing, marketing, and customer account management.

SunRun website

Sequoia Capital website

Austin, Texas — The University of Texas (UT) at Austin announced that it will receive up to $19 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and NRG Energy to design and oversee a monitoring plan for a carbon capture and storage demonstration project in southeast Texas.

The project will use “anthropogenic” CO2 (as opposed to naturally occurring CO2) for enhanced oil recovery,” or a technique that involves injecting CO2 into declining oil fields to increase oil yield. UT’s role will be to ensure the long-term geologic storage of the injected CO2, the university announced.

DOE has selected NRG, one of the largest electric power providers in the U.S., to receive up to $167 million of funding to build a post-combustion CO2 capture demonstration unit at the company’s power plant southwest of Houston. Under the agreement, NRG will invest an additional $167 million in the project.

A portion of the power plant’s CO2 emissions will be scrubbed, transported to a nearby oil field and injected deep underground for enhanced oil recovery and long-term storage. UT’s Bureau of Economic Geology’s Gulf Coast Carbon Center will subcontract with NRG to monitor the CO2 during and after injection.

UT Bureau of Economic Geology Gulf Coast Carbon Center website

New York – Tesla Motors, the maker of high-performance electric cars, priced its initial public offering on Tuesday to raise a total of $226 million, selling 13.3 million shares at $17 each. The company previously had indicated that it planned to sell only 11.1 millions shares priced in an expected range of between $14 and $16 per share.

In its first day of trading, shares in Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) surged to slightly over $30 before settling down and closing at $23.89 for the day. On Wednesday, the company’s second day of trading as a public company, its share price closed down just $0.06 from Tuesday’s close at $23.83.

“It’s like back in the Internet age, when people didn’t really know how big these companies could become and there was rush to speculate,” said Darren Fabric, managing director of IPOX Capital Management, told the Associate Press.

Founded in 2003, Tesla last year began selling its first model, the “Roadster,” for just over $100,000. The car is capable of reaching 60 miles per hour in 3.8 seconds. Its range extends 244 miles on a full battery charge.

As of December 31, 2009, Tesla had sold 937 Roadsters, the company said in the SEC filing.

Tesla recently entered into a $465 million long-term loan under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program

Tesla and Panasonic are collaborating to develop new battery cells for electric vehicles. Under the agreement, Tesla will use Panasonic’s Nickel-based Lithium ion battery cells in its newest battery packs.

Westborough, Mass. – Boston-Power, a Westborough-based developer of Lithium-ion batteries, has raised $60 million in its fifth round of venture capital, bringing the total equity raised by the privately held company since its founding in 2005 to $185 million.

The company’s new investment round was co-led by existing investors Foundation Asset Management and Oak Investment Partners. Current investors Venrock and Gabriel Venture Partners also participated in the deal.

Boston-Power supplies batteries for HP’s notebook computers and batteries for plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles. The company has manufacturing operations in Asia.

The company plans to double its workforce in the next three years, according to statements by its CEO and founder, Christina Lampe-Onnerud. Boston-Power plans to enlarge its overseas workforce to about 1,000 workers, mostly, and plans to build a factory in either Europe or China, where it will make storage and electric car batteries.

In connection with Boston-Power’s latest investment round, Bandel Carano, a managing partner with Oak Investment Partner, has become chairman of the company’s board of directors.

Boston-Power website

San Francisco — Recurve, a developer of software that analyzes the energy efficiency of residential buildings, has raised $8 million in its second round of venture capital, which was led by Lowe’s, the national building materials retail chain.

Recurve was founded in 2004 and provides home energy audits, as well as installing solar systems. The company’s software helps home energy performance contractors to more accurately and profitably manage home energy auditing and retrofitting projects.

“Lowe’s 60-year history in the home improvement industry will be valuable in shaping Recurve’s growth,” said Pratap Mukherjee, CEO of Recurve, in an announcement about the investment.

Other investors in Recurve include RockPort Capital and Shasta Ventures.