Roth & Rau announces "significant" closures and employee cuts 07. February 2012 | Industry & Suppliers, Markets & Trends | By: Becky Stuart Admitting that its photovoltaic business has been negatively affected by the weak market conditions in 2011, Roth & Rau has said it will close a number of its subsidiaries and "significantly" reduce its workforce by the end of the first half of 2012. Roth & Rau has made drastic cutbacks to its photovoltaics business.Roth & Rau AG At a meeting held yesterday, the German company pushed forward additional measures to rapidly and sustainably improve its earnings and financial strength. These include reducing its number of subsidiaries from 26 to 12, and cutting its workforce from 1,350 to under 1,150. Specifically those subsidiaries ... Continue reading →

The Nest thermostat (in cooling mode). Thermostat giant Honeywell has filed a lawsuit alleging patent infringement by the buzzy Silicon Valley startup Nest Labs, which makes a smart learning thermostat. Honeywell has spent decades developing thermostat technology and just last week the company told me it had developed and tested learning thermostat technology, like the kind Nest has introduced, but that it had decided not to commercialize the learning tech after weak user response. Honeywell says its patent infringement lawsuit, which was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, applies to thermostat tech including: Natural Language Installer Set Up for Controller Controller Interface with Dynamic Schedule Display HVAC Controller Thermostat with Mechanical User Interface Thermostat with Offset Drive Power Stealing ... Continue reading →

Mon Feb 6, 2012 6:36pm EST LOS ANGELES Feb 6 (Reuters) - Electric car startup Fisker Automotive Inc said on Monday it has suspended work at its U.S. manufacturing plant and laid off 26 workers while it renegotiates the terms of its $529 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy.The company has received $193 million of the federal loan so far, it said in a statement. Most of those funds have supported the rollout of its first vehicle, a $102,000 plug-in hybrid sportscar called the Karma that was plagued with production delays and a recent recall.Fisker's Wilmington, Delaware plant, a former General Motors Co factory, is expected to manufacture the company's second vehicle, a sedan known as the Nina. The $336 million balance of ... Continue reading →

By Lisa Richwine LOS ANGELES | Fri Feb 3, 2012 4:30pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Super Bowl is still two days away but some advertisers already are looking like winners as their yet-to-be-aired commercials score millions of hits online and rack up pre-game buzz. A teaser for Volkswagen's ad has drawn more than 11 million viewers on YouTube. The campaign features a pack of dogs barking out a "Star Wars" song, repeating a theme from the company's well-received ad during last year's Super Bowl. (link.reuters.com/nuq46s)That level of pre-game hits is "astonishing," according to Tim Calkins, marketing professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management."That would be a pretty good viewership for a primetime network television show," Calkins said.Several other Super Bowl ads, or ... Continue reading →

When Markus Beck was offered the opportunity to commercialize a next-generation thin film solar technology with the backing of solar industry giant First Solar two years ago, he jumped at the chance. But when First Solar cut his program — which created panels out of copper, indium, gallium and selenium in contrast to First Solar’s cadmium-telluride panels — last month, that dream evaporated. However Beck tells us in an interview that he’s got a new goal on the horizon: line up over a hundred million from investors and commercialize a new process to make CIGS solar panels. Beck tells us he’s like to line up $130-$150 million for a new CIGS manufacturing process and he’d like to take that technology to its first commercial shipments ... Continue reading →

By David Gaffen Thu Feb 2, 2012 9:58pm EST (Reuters) - Wall Street traders and fund managers have opinions on almost everything - from politics to religion to the price of a spectacular bottle of wine. But ask about this Sunday's Super Bowl matchup between the New York Giants and the Boston-backed New England Patriots, and they're suddenly far from loquacious. Even if they're Dan Fuss, one of the most respected fund managers in the country. Fuss isn't exactly in danger of losing his position, but wasn't keen to get chatty about American football's big championship game, which is annually the most-watched televised event in the United States."People really take this stuff seriously," said Fuss, vice chairman at Boston-based Loomis Sayles, which oversees more than ... Continue reading →

By Nichola Groom LOS ANGELES | Thu Feb 2, 2012 5:26pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Solar power company SolarCity is expected to debut on U.S. markets in the third quarter this year and has hired Goldman Sachs to underwrite its initial public offering, a source close to the company said on Thursday. The San Mateo, California-based startup will file its IPO plans with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission "within a few weeks," the source said. The deal is expected to value the company at around $1.5 billion.Spokesmen for both SolarCity and Goldman would not comment.A market debut by SolarCity could help revive what has become a dismal market for clean technology offerings.Closely watched energy startups including solar thermal power plant builder BrightSource Energy ... Continue reading →

Wed Feb 1, 2012 4:47pm EST (Reuters) - GT Advanced Technologies posted quarterly profit above analysts' estimates for the ninth time in a row, partly helped by better performance at its polysilicon segment, but it cut the upper end of its full-year earnings outlook. The U.S. solar and LED equipment maker now expects to earn $1.45 to $1.60 per share on revenue of $950 million to $1.05 billion in 2012.Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $1.50 per share on revenue of $995.3 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.GT Advanced, previously known as GT Solar, posted a net profit of $15.3 million, or 12 cents per share, down from $63.6 million, or 46 cents per share, a year ago.GT Advanced, which caters to solar and ... Continue reading →