First Solar (FSLR) share prices dropped as the company announced an 8,500,000-share offering of its common stock. The offering could net more than $400 million for the solar panel manufacturer and EPC at its current $4.1 billion market cap and stock price.

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"First Solar intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, which may include acquisitions of under development photovoltaic solar power system projects, investments in photovoltaic solar power system projects that will be jointly developed with strategic partners and capital expenditures or strategic investments to develop certain business units and expand in new geographies," said the release.

Share prices tend to drop in secondary offerings -- as investors don't like their currency diluted. But First Solar shares have been on a strong run lately -- so this is an ideal time for the thin film solar manufacturer and EPC to

The trick to getting the first innovative financing vehicle for renewable energy was to not mention renewable energy.

Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure (HASI), with 30 years of experience at financing renewables and energy efficiency and a $1.6 billion portfolio, asked for and got a private letter ruling (PLR) from the Internal Revenue Service on its proposal to form a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT).

Since its April 18 initial public offering, the Hannon Armstrong REIT has sold 13.3 million shares at $12.50 per share, including $10 million in share purchases from its underwriters, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, UBS, and Wells Fargo.

"We are leveraging that up with a credit facility," explained Jeff Eckel, Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure President/CEO. "Our target is to have $2 of debt for every dollar of equity. That will be approximately $350 million."

This may or may not mean that more REITs

The smart grid startup finally sets an IPO price, but plans to raise less than half what it aimed for in 2011.

By Jeff St. John

Silver Spring Networks (SSNI), the smart grid startup that's been planning to go public for nearly two years, finally set the price of its IPO on Tuesday -- but with much reduced expectations for how much money it will raise in its public offering.

The Redwood City, Calif.-based company's latest S-1 amendment says the company plans to sell 3.7 million shares at a price of $16 to $18 per share, or $59.2 million to $66.6 million, with a midpoint price of $63 million. That's less than half the $150 million the company originally planned to raise when it filed its S-1 in July 2011.

That won't surprise too many industry watchers who've been waiting to see if Silver Spring would actually pull

By: Herman K. Trabish

First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) set records for net sales in Q4 2012 and for the year, driven by massive utility-scale solar power plant development.

"The company's stock closed 4.2 percent lower during normal hours, but fell as much as 10 percent after hours," according to Motley Fool analyst John Divine.

First Solar projected Q1 2013 net sales at $650 million to $750 million, below the $800 million in revenues expected by a wide array of analysts.

First Solar is the developer of the three biggest U.S. solar power plants: Topaz Solar Farm (688 megawatts), Agua Caliente Solar (333 megawatts), and Desert Sunlight PG&E (345 megawatts). The firm is also developing two other projects among the top ten (Desert Sunlight SCE, 287 megawatts, and Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One, 230 megawatts).

First Solar's net sales for Q4 2012 were $1.1 billion, $236 million higher than

As residential solar leases become available in fourteen U.S. states, GTM Research releases the market's first complete vendor analysis.

By Nick Rinaldi (GTM Research)

Third-party financing of solar PV has become the predominant business model in some of the largest residential markets in the U.S.; today, third-party financed residential installations comprise greater than 50 percent of new residential solar capacity in California, Arizona, Colorado and Massachusetts, with the model gaining greater market share in other states such as Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, Vermont, and Washington.

Today GTM Research, the leading solar market analysis and advisory firm in the U.S., releases U.S. Residential Solar PV Financing: The Vendor, Installer and Financier Landscape, 2013-2016. This 21-page report provides an integrated look at the vendors, installers and financiers offering residential solar financing across the U.S.. The report analyzes the leading vendors and their business models, the strategic relationships

By Eric Wesoff

In its first statement and guidance as a public company, SolarCity (SCTY), a provider of distributed energy, announced that the company deployed 156 megawatts in 2012 compared to a planned 146 megawatts.

The 156 megawatts deployed in 2012 shows growth of 117 percent over last year's 72 megawatts. Residential deployments were 85 megawatts for FY 2012, with 30 megawatts in the fourth quarter.

CEO

By Katherine Tweed

Aclara expanded its grid networking solutions by acquiring the assets of Metrum Technologies, a Texas-based company that provides public network communications products for utilities.

Aclara, which is a member of ESCO Technologies’ (ESE) utilities solutions group, will add cellular solutions to its communication offerings, which already include powerline and RF mesh.

"Metrum’s communication technologies are an excellent complement to Aclara’s network offering," Brad Kitterman, president of Aclara, said in a statement. "Adding Metrum's portfolio of products to our existing offerings allows Aclara to provide a more comprehensive solution that will enable our existing customers – as well as new ones – to optimize the economics of their smart grid deployment by balancing bandwidth requirements with cost."

Metrum’s assets will be integrated into Aclara’s Two-Way Automatic Communications System (TWACS), which is used to transmit data between electric meters and the utility. The acquisition also includes

By Eric Wesoff

SunPower (SPWR) started off the new year with a big sale.

The solar project developer and PV module manufacturer just announced the sale of its 579-megawatt Antelope Valley Solar Project (AVSP) to Warren Buffett's MidAmerican Renewables. The sale price, including interest in the project and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services, looks to be in the range of $2.0 billion to $2.5 billion, according to Ben Kallo of Baird Equity Research. Shares of SunPower stock jumped 9 percent on the news.

When completed, the 579-megawatt AVSP could edge out the 550-megawatt Topaz project -- developed by First Solar but also owned by MidAmerican -- as the nation's largest PV plant.

Construction starts this year. The plant will provide power to Southern California Edison (SCE) under long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) starting in 2015.

We spoke with SunPower CEO Tom Werner about the

By Rob Day

First: Several folks asked if I could post my little Christmas Eve twitter poem. Well, Walt Frick was kind enough to do so here. So enjoy, typos and all! And my thanks to Walt...

It's that time of year again! Time for some prognostications of questionable accuracy, as we head into the new year. 2012 was hard for cleantech investors. Will 2013 be a rebound year? This time next year will we be looking back and smiling broadly at our good fortune?

Unfortunately, that's not what I'm expecting.

Our sector is at a pretty low point right now, and while I do personally believe cleantech is just in the "Trough of Disillusionment" and will eventually rebound, there aren't a lot of factors primed to trigger any upswing in the coming months. So 2013 seems like a "go-sideways" year, off of an already low starting

By Eric Wesoff

The millionth First Solar (FSLR) solar module was installed in October at the 550-megawatt (AC) Topaz Solar Farm owned by MidAmerican Solar. When complete,

By Eric Wesoff

CEO Lyndon Rive discusses the Treasury’s 1603 investigation and subpoena.

We recently published part one of our interview with Lyndon Rive, the CEO of newly public distributed energy provider, SolarCity (SCTY). It included Rive saying, "For the longest period, people used to call SolarCity the largest solar installer in the country. Argh. It would bug me. I would grind my teeth when I heard that."

We spoke with Rive about the Treasury investigation on the 1603 grant program amidst questions that companies such as SolarCity, Sunrun, and Sungevity have been embellishing the prices claimed on grant paperwork.

Here are Rive's comments on 1603 and CSI data:

-"Depending on how far back you go with the CSI data -- when you pull out the application, you put in the price -- but we haven't sold it yet to the fund, so we don't know what

By Eric Wesoff

CEO Lyndon Rive’s thoughts on the IPO process, pricing the SCTY IPO and being called a “solar installer.”

SolarCity is a distributed energy provider that has grown fast and gone public on the promise of selling consumers cheap electricity.

Since SolarCity (SCTY) lowered its offering price to $8.00 per share last week, the stock has spent the last few days between $11.00 and $12.00 and is currently trading at $10.66 per share. But to quote CEO Lyndon Rive from an earlier interview, "What matters is what the price is in four years, not what the price is today."

We spoke with Rive on the one-week anniversary of the firm's IPO.

Lyndon Rive on the IPO and IPO process:

-"Once you get used to not sleeping, it's great. It does take a toll, but actually I think it's a very good process -- you get

By Rob Day

It's been a crazy year in cleantech, and a lot of things didn't go as expected.

Especially by me, apparently.

Even if I'm not particularly good at it, I find the annual prediction exercise to be useful for developing a coherent picture of the coming year, as at least a starting point for planning. And it's also just a bit of fun to take some guesses and see how they turn out.

2012 flummoxed me because I was too optimistic this time last year. I thought we were about to turn the corner on cleantech venture firm fundraising, and thus that we would start to see a rebound in dealmaking. I failed to see just how toxic the politicization of cleantech would become. And I generally was too aggressive on trends that I do believe are underway, but that are moving a lot more slowly than I'd

By Eric Wesoff

ClearEdge Power of Hillsboro, Oregon, a manufacturer of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, is acquiring fuel cell industry veteran UTC Power.

UTC Power is a maker of large-scale phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFCs), although the firm also has experience with PEM, alkaline fuel cells (AFCs), solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), and molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs).

UTC Power has a long history, but it's a tiny piece of the $58 billion aerospace-technology conglomerate United Technologies Corp. (UTX). Some sources report annual revenue of $40 million for the fuel cell unit, but UTC Power's revenue is not broken out separately. The firm "currently has approximately 380 employees and they are all part of this acquisition, which covers both the stationary and transportation businesses," according to a UTC spokesperson in an email today.

ClearEdge has raised just north of $100 million in VC funding since its inception

By Katherine Tweed

Alstom Grid has completed the acquisition of ASAT Solutions, a Canadian company that provides substation automation solutions.

ASAT, based in Calgary, specializes in managing the data coming off of distribution substations and using that for operation, maintenance and asset management. The company’s server helps integrate intelligent control devices with substation computers.

ASAT had been working with various competitors of Alstom, including ABB, General Electric (GE), SEL and Siemens (SI). The company had a reseller agreement with GE. ASAT had also been working with Areva (ARVCY.PK), which Alstom bought part of in 2010 for just over $1.9 billion (Schneider Electric (SBGSY.PK) bought the other portion of the company). Alstom also has an alliance with S&C Electric.

“Companies like ASAT are becoming more important as utilities continue to move beyond legacy communications to more standards-based communications. The solutions provided by these companies ensure compatibility for legacy as

By Herman K. Trabish

More than 128 megawatts of geothermal capacity came on-line in the U.S. in 2012, the second largest annual capacity addition since 2005.

By comparison, the U.S. will install more than three gigawatts of solar this year, and the U.S. wind industry may hit 12 gigawatts. That’s why a developer recently called U.S. geothermal “sort of nichey.”

Competition from historically low natural gas prices was, as one developer put it, “the threat” in 2012. But geothermal leaders expect gas price volatility to end its own threat. Geothermal’s bigger challenge might come from utility-scale solar and wind. Those resources win the majority of utility contracts, though geothermal offers the same long-term price certainty.

In any case, here are the high points of the U.S. geothermal year.

Top Twelve Geothermal Projects

One: Hydroshearing at AltaRockEnergy’s Newberry Crater project in Oregon appeared to be successful. Microseismic

Cree (CREE) of Research Triangle Park, NC just announced a record-setting, next-generation flagship LED.

Cree claims “unprecedented” output for a single-die emitter -- 1898 lumens and 116 lumens per watt at full drive. Luminus Devices can beat the output but not at comparable efficiency. Like its predecessor, the XM-L, this new LED can be driven at up to 3 amps yielding about 10 watts of input power.

The part is based on Cree's third-generation silicon carbide (SiC) platform. A range of warm, medium, and cool whites is available, with color temperatures from 2600K to 6200K.

But when it comes to LED specifications, it pays to always read the fine print.

As is typical with LED product announcements, the 186 lumens per watt is for a premium bin part, in a cool white, at 25 degrees Celsius, and at a reduced current drive, 350 milliamps in this case. Efficiency goes

By Jeff St. John

It's official: Johnson Controls (JCI) has filed an appeal to the bankruptcy court sale that saw it lose its bid for A123's assets to Chinese auto equipment giant Wanxiang. But it's not demanding to stop the sale -- though it stands ready to take over the bankrupt lithium-ion battery maker if politics gets in the way of Wanxiang's takeover of the company.

That's the gist of a Monday announcement from Johnson Controls, which said it has filed an appeal in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware to get back a $5.5 million breakup fee it had given the court to participate in the bid for A123's business. Johnson Controls, which had sought to acquire A123's automotive assets out of bankruptcy for $125 million, but bowed out of the auction after a final bid of $251 million jointly with Japan's NEC, about $5 million short of what

By Jeff St. John

Chinese automotive equipment giant Wanxiang has already given up a lot in its $256.6 million winning bid to take over bankrupt U.S. battery maker A123. Not only has it said goodbye to A123's U.S. government work, it has lost the remaining $120 million or so of a $249 million Department of Energy grant that's helped build A123's lithium-ion factories in Michigan -- plants that Wanxiang says it will keep open.

But political opponents of A123's sale to a Chinese company are saying that may not be enough. Even A123's commercial technology is inextricably linked back to its federally funded work with partners like DOE and the Department of Defense, they say. That could allow Wanxiang to develop military applications based on A123's U.S.-funded technology, it is claimed -- and that's enough reason to block the sale.

These are some of the issues facing the Committee

By Eric Wesoff

After a painful pricing process, SolarCity (SCTY) is now a public company. The stock is currently trading late in the day at $12.00, up 50 percent. Pricing the deal at $8.00 per share looks smart now, one day in to a very long slog.

CEO Lyndon Rive said in a video interview on Bloomberg TV, "What matters is what the price is in four years, not what the price is today,"

In their first post-IPO interview, Rive and Chairman Elon Musk spoke about SolarCity's stock pricing, the solar market, and weddings.

When asked by Bloomberg TV about the initial IPO price, "Who screwed up here? Something went wrong when you target $13 to $15 and end up with $8[...]Who was pushing for that valuation and didn't get it? Was it you guys or was it your bankers, led by Goldman Sachs?"

Musk said, "Where