U.S. solar energy industry is worried

In September 2011, the American solar energy company Solyndra LLC declared bankruptcy. This event caused a great shock in the solar industry. However, the company's tragic and destructive scene did not completely scare the investors of the sector.

Thin-film solar panel maker HelioVolt Corp. It is Solyndra's pre-bankruptcy competitor, which has received a 50 million dollar investment from the Korean group SK Group. This investment from Asia may help. One of the reasons for Solyndra and other solar companies to struggle is because of the pressure from Chinese competitors, because the latter's manufacturing costs are lower.

At the same time, Sunpreme Ltd, a solar company founded by Ashok Sinha, a senior semiconductor industry practitioner. Recently acquired 50 million U.S. dollars in new investment. What Sinner learned from the bankruptcy of Solyndra is that don’t overburden too much money too early. He said, “We should keep the growth rate moderately stable. Even if investors are willing, it is not time to ask them to build a huge factory for 500 million US dollars. We want to go through several stages of development and prove that the company does have a decisive cost. Advantage."

In other recent solar panel transactions, Firsthand Technology Value Fund** invested in a solar energy system company, Skyline Solar Inc. . Kevin Landis, portfolio manager of Firsthand**, said, “Today, investing in the solar industry must have a little faith, confidence, courage, and even a little fantasy.” He said that even if there are more solar companies in the future, In bankruptcy, he still believes that some companies can survive and thrive.

Chicken or egg first

Although plug-in electric vehicles have been introduced at a slower pace than originally expected, with the advent of this car, Better Place Inc., a company that builds charging stations and battery exchange stations, has been introduced. Has already received $200 million in new investments. New investors include General Electric Co. and UBS AG.

The development of the electric vehicle market is hampered by a "chicken or egg" issue. Consumers need to see the existence of some charging stations before they purchase electric cars; but only if the market size of plug-in electric vehicles is large enough, the construction of charging stations will be effective. In response to this dilemma, Better Place and the French carmaker Renault Group have reached an agreement: Renault will produce 100,000 electric cars in the next five years and sell them in the Israeli and Danish markets, while Better Place will These countries build a network of charging stations.

Renault Fluence ZE. Buyers of electric cars may choose to rent a car battery instead of buying it directly as part of the Better Place monthly service agreement. Consumers can cover any cost of recharging at home as long as they pay a monthly fee, and replace a dead battery in a robotic automated service station network. After the project began operating in Denmark, the monthly fee is expected to be between 199 and 399 euros (equivalent to 265 to 530 US dollars).

The agreement was born between the various frustrations and delays in the electric car market. For example, Think Global, a small city electric vehicle manufacturer, filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year, Coda Holdings Inc. It also delayed the listing of its pure electric cars several times.

But not all news is negative. Although there was a delay, Fisker Automotive Holdings Inc. The company's first luxury plug-in hybrid vehicles have entered the US market.

The Anaheim-based automaker recently received $58 million in funding from investors including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. It is a new $150 million.

Investment boom

Informed sources, Bloom Energy Corp, a fuel cell developer. Received 150 million U.S. dollars in the new round. Bloom declined to comment.

Bloom's power generation units are positioned for residential and commercial use and can convert natural gas or biofuels into electricity.

This is the largest venture capital investment by US clean energy companies in the third quarter of 2011.

Based on analysis by Ernst & Young LLP on data from Dow Jones VentureSource, overall US clean energy investment in the first three quarters of 2011 soared 73% over the same period last year. It reached 1.1 billion U.S. dollars. The number of investment transactions increased by 36% from the same period last year to 76.