Proterra gets $24 million in funding for its electric buses

Clean technology company Proterra has closed $24 million in series B investment to continue commercialization of their zero-emissions transport solution, the EcoRide. The EcoRide is a 35-foot, low-floor composite body pure battery electric transit bus. This latest round of investment will accelerate its deployment to new U.S. transit customers as well as fund the company’s efforts to open new markets...

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LightSail gets $37.3 million for compressed air energy storage systems

Berkeley, California-based startup LightSail Energy – which developed an energy storage system using compressed air – raised $37.3 million in Series D funding. The recently closed funding round was led by San Francisco investor Peter Thiel. Khosla Ventures, who incubated the company, Bill Gates, Innovacorp and several other investors also participated. “This investment round will enable LightSail to bring...

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China leads second quarter clean energy investments

China took the lead in investments in renewable energy this quarter, according to a recently published report by Bloomberg Energy Finance. The country saw $18.3 billion in investments in the April-to-June quarter, which is 92 percent higher than the previous quarter, with several large solar photovoltaic and wind projects delivering hundreds of millions of dollars in financing.

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EcoMotors Series C round collects $32.5 million

Michigan-based startup EcoMotors International has completed its Series C round, gaining new investments totaling $32.5 million for their low-emission “Opoc” engine. “Opoc” stands for opposed piston-opposed cylinder, a description of an engine that can run on a number of different fuels including gasoline, diesel and ethanol.

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Soladigm gets $55 million in financing for energy efficient building glass

California-based Soladigm closed $55 million in equity financing for the commercialization of their energy efficient Dynamic Glass products. Dynamic Glass is a smart building material that can change its tint from clear to dark on demand to allow occupants to control the amount of light and heat entering the premises.

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JinkoSolar reports $57 million loss for the first quarter of 2012

Economic uncertainty in Europe and a global oversupply of solar products led to a weak first quarter for Jiangxi-based JinkoSolar, which reported a net loss of 356.3 million yuan ($56.6 million). The solar power products manufacturer saw an increase in shipments for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012 to 249 megawatts from 227 MW in the fourth quarter of 2011. But it still incurred an operations loss of 306 million yuan.

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Northland Power closes $120 million for ground mounted solar projects

Canadian renewable energy company Northland Power Inc. closed a $120 million preferred share offering the proceeds of which will be used to develop its first six ground-mounted solar projects. Northland Power develops, builds, owns and operates clean power generation projects in Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan. The company plans to add ground-mounted solar power projects to their portfolio.

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Sunrun raises $60 million for residential solar model

Residential solar power installer Sunrun announced it raised $60 million in equity financing as it moves to scale up its solar installation business. The San Francisco-based company allows homeowners to go solar without high upfront costs. It owns, insures, monitors and maintains the solar panels on a homeowner's roof, while families pay for the electricity and fix their electric costs for 20 years.

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Gevo incurs loss in first quarter

Renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company Gevo, Inc. saw a loss of $19.3 million following an increase in expenses in the first quarter of 2012. The company’s total revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2012 was $14.9 million compared with $15.3 million for the same period in 2011.

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JCM Capital providing $10 million for solar in Ontario

Solar power financing company JCM Capital announced a $10 million solar development capital fund for investments in early-stage photovoltaic projects installed in large commercial and industrial buildings across Ontario. The fund will be available to application-ready projects to be submitted to the Ontario Power Authority for the province’s feed-in tariff program. Ontario offers a feed-in tariff schemes for renewable energy projects with generation capacities of 10 kilowatts or less, among other technology tiers.

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