The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (the “LADWP”) recently held a meeting to discuss its strategic plan. As the nation’s largest public utility, its actions will have an immediate economic impact and significant influence on other utilities.

The news stories of today focused more on the high profile elements of the strategic plan, including LADWP general manager, Austin Buetner’s intentions to sell and leaseback the utility’s iconic downtown headquarters (more…)

PACE financing is one of those issues that has sweeping implications for clean energy adoption, but can be just so darn difficult to understand (see: net metering). If you can you believe it, the current acronym (PACE stands for Property Assessed Clean Energy) is a major step toward intelligibility from what we were first calling it (Municipal Property Tax Financing . . . or MPTF?). Acronym alphabet soup aside, it’s a topic that mixes the intricacies of tax law and bond finance with mortgages and clean energy. Like we said, not easy. (more…)

Morgan Solar Inc. will receive a substantial financial contribution from the Ontario government to facilitate the launch of its commercial activities in the province. The young Toronto-based company has developed a unique photovoltaic (PV) panel characterized by its lightness, sturdiness, and unparalleled sunlight-concentrating capacity. With the $1.86 million in funding it received from the government, Morgan Solar will soon begin manufacturing its patented technology for market.

Construction of a new production facility will undoubtedly create many temporary employment opportunities, but (more…)

There is plenty of sun in deserts and the Sahara is one of the biggest deserts in the world. Europe intends to import its first solar generated electricity from North Africa within the next five years, European Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said in an interview on Sunday. The European Union is backing projects to turn the plentiful sunlight in the Sahara desert into electricity for Europe, a scheme it hopes will help meet its target of deriving 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. (more…)

Cleantech and renewable energy professionals now have a new legal resource at their disposal. Professionals looking for help on legal or policy issues can submit their environmental, clean tech, and renewable energy legal questions to CleanTechies’ Legal Q&A at http://law.cleantechies.com and get answers from cleantech law experts.

CleanTechies has joined forces with Cleantech Law Partners, a boutique law firm that caters to the unique legal needs of renewable energy and cleantech companies. The firm’s attorneys review the legal questions that are submitted on CleanTechies and provide their answers online.

Users can provide additional feedback by commenting on the discussion and sharing their own experiences and insights on cleantech and renewable energy law.

To submit your questions about environmental, clean tech or renewable energy law, follow this link.

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Want to devise an incentive to get a new industry really humming? Try creating a $100 million dollar fund to finance its projects. That’s what PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG) and solar financing specialist SunRun Inc. have decided to do.

Working through its non-utility subsidiary, Pacific Energy Capital II, LLC, PG&E announced a $100 million tax equity agreement that will offer financing for more than 3,500 solar roof installations planned by SunRun nationally. The fund represents the largest residential (more…)

A political consultant once told me that Americans only vote for the environmental candidate if the economy is thriving. The nation’s financial house needs to be in order before voters will tend the garden.

Green energy advocates appear to have circumvented this tendency in recent years by promoting green jobs. The political formula is no longer the environment or the economy, but the environment and the economy.

But the strength of that link may soon be tested.

The Deloitte Center for Energy Solutions published a recent survey that found 85% of utility regulators expect electricity rates to rise this year, and they worry that consumers will revolt. (more…)

We are standing on the precipice of solar greatness in New York State, and it is because so many of you have taken action. You have written over 1500 letters to your legislators. You have contributed more than 30 official memorandums of support. You have donated generously to our solar billboard campaign, and it became a reality. You have made calls. You’ve told friends, and those friends have told their friends. (more…)

“I really think it’s important that the best and brightest in the colleges today should take a look at these problems.  If we can resolve the energy problem then clean water isn’t far behind. And if you’ve got  inexpensive renewable energy worldwide, and if you have clean water, once you take those major problems away for the planet there’s a lot less to fight about.”  – Jack Baron, CEO of Sweetwater

KissMyCountry continues our ‘CEOs Saving the Planet’ series with Jack Baron, CEO of Sweetwater , a biofuels company in Rochester, New York that’s working on some exciting solutions, including a replacement for jet fuel. Jack, best known for co-founding the telecommunications firm PAETEC, took the helm at Sweetwater to make a difference in renewable energy today. Jack talks about the importance of renewable fuels for saving our planet, and the most interesting green technologies that people are working on today, as well as the places he loves in Rochester.  Enjoy!

KissMyCountry: Jack, Sweetwater is an exciting company that brings new ideas to biofuel production. You’ve got great technology. In layman’s terms, can you tell us a little bit about Sweetwater and your breakthrough technology?  Why are you excited, and what would you like us to know about Sweetwater?

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Solar Energy (both photovoltaic and solar hot water, aka solar thermal) are great resources to have at your disposal. In the case of photovoltaic, you can substitute the power from your utility grid by harnessing the sun’s power and converting the sun’s rays into electricity. With rising electricity prices, photovoltaics (aka solar electric) is a great hedge against ever expanding utility bills. The photovoltaic industry is growing by leaps and bounds. You may want to get into the action. (more…)