Smart Energy News

Durham, N.C. – Semprius, a developer of high concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) solar modules, announced on Wednesday it has raised an additional $7.5 million in venture capital from Siemens Venture Capital, ARCH Venture Partners and Intersouth Partners.

Founded in 2005, Semprius is a spin out of the University of Illinois that is commercializing a process for printing high performance single crystal semiconductors on any substrate, including glass, plastic and other semiconductor materials.

Semprius builds its modules using processes that combine extremely tiny solar cells with low-cost, efficient optics that concentrate incoming sunlight more than 1,000 times. In January, Semprius announced it set a new world record for photovoltaic module efficiency, reaching 33.9%.

The company said it will use proceeds from the new funding to accelerate construction and ramp-up of its pilot production facility to produce solar modules.

Image credit: Semprius

Semprius website

Oakland, Calif. — BrightSource Energy, a privately held developer of utility-scale solar thermal power plants, has filed with federal regulators for an initial public offering of stock to raise an estimated $183 million.

The company indicated it expects to sell about 7.9 million shares priced at $23 each in the deal.

Founded in 2004, BrightSource has developed a technology that uses thousands of mirrors to reflect sunlight onto a central receiver atop a tower, producing high-temperature steam that powers a turbine to generate electricity.

The company has about 2.6 gigawatts of power under contracts with Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric Company. BrightSource also manages a 100,000-acre development site portfolio in California and the U.S. Southwest, with the potential to accommodate around 10 gigawatts of installed capacity, according to the company.
BrightSource also operates a solar energy development center in Israel’s Negev Desert.

In 2010, BrightSource raised $150 million in a venture capital deal, bringing the total raised by the company to over $300 million.

Investors in BrightSource include VantagePoint Venture Partners, Alstom, Morgan Stanley, the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS), and Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

Photo credit: BrightSource

BrightSource website

BrightSource’s IPO filing

Louisville, Colo. — RGS Energy, the commercial division of Real Goods Solar, a solar systems installer, and Smart Energy Capital, a developer of solar energy projects, announced they have formed a partnership called RGS Energy Capital that will provide development, financing and installation for commercial solar projects.

With access to about $150 million in capital from multiple project funds, RGS Energy Capital is marketing solar power purchase agreements nationwide to a range of commercial, educational, government and non-profit organizations, according to the announcement.

The partnership has already begun construction on nine projects located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Massachusetts that total about 4 megawatts, and have a number of other projects under development in California, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland.

“Clients will now have a single source relationship to plan, engineer, finance, construct and manage solar electric systems,” the companies announced. “This consolidated, single source approach will create certainty of execution while collapsing the time for clients to realize financial savings.”

Image credit: Smart Energy Capital

RGS Energy website

Smart Energy Capital website

San Jose, Calif. – Retired U.S. Army General Wesley K. Clark, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe and a former U.S. presidential candidate, has joined SoloPower’s board of directors as an independent director.

Headquartered in San Jose, SoloPower uses roll-to-roll electrodeposition manufacturing technology to produce lightweight and flexible photovoltaic cells. The company’s copper, indium, gallium and (di)selenide (CIGS) cells are then packaged as solar modules that the company says require less balance-of-system hardware and are easier to install than traditional solar panels.

SoloPower is in the process of constructing its manufacturing headquarters and first high-volume manufacturing lines in Portland, Ore. The company’s operations in Portland are ultimately expected to have a capacity of 400MW and to bring 450 jobs to the local community.

Lead investors in the company include Hudson Clean Energy Partners, Crosslink Capital, Convexa, and Firsthand.

Clark joins SoloPower’s board following the recent announcement that the company’s latest panel technology achieved a record efficiency for CIGS-based modules.

“With growth capital in place and strong demand from the United States, Japan, South Korea and Italy, among other countries, I hope to help support SoloPower’s continued global expansion,” Clark said in an announcement.

Clark is providing the keynote address today at PV America 2012, where about 4,000 solar energy industry professionals are expected to attend.

SoloPower website

Petaluma, Calif. — Enphase Energy, a provider of technology for improving the performance of solar systems, has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise an estimated $100 million in its initial public offering of stock.

The company indicated it plans to sell about 8.4 million shares priced at an estimated $12 per share.

Founded in 2006 and backed by a handful of venture capital firms, Enphase offers systems that include microinverters, data collection and transmission equipment, and web-based analytics and management tools.

In its new SEC filing, Enphase reported revenue of about $150 million in 2011 with a loss of about $28 million, compared to about $61 million in revenue and a $21 million loss in 2010.

Enphase’s investors include Third Point Management, RockPort Capital Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, PCG Asset Management, Applied Ventures, and Bay Partners.

Image credit: Enphase Energy

http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1463101/000119312512110086/d195596ds1a.htm#toc195596_8

http://enphase.com/