RenewComm, a strategic communications and public relations firm, has relaunched to offer senior-level consulting to companies and non-profits in the renewable energy and cleantech sectors.

Managing partners in the firm are Lauren Glickman and Peter Kelley. Glickman has served a variety of clients in the sector for five years as WindyGlick Communications. Kelley was previously vice president of public affairs for the American Wind Energy Association for nearly eight years, and before that was a founding member of RenewComm.

The 14.23-MW portfolio leverages capital from CleanCapital’s new partnership with CarVal Investors. These solar projects are located in California and Vermont and consist of high-quality customers including schools, a vineyard and two utilities.

Alison Silverstein, a Texas-based consultant, and Rob Gramlich and Michael Goggin, former top staff at the American Wind Energy Association, prepared an analysis for the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Defense Fund. The report is meant to expand a debate around how to ensure the power grid is reliable overall and resilient when pipes freeze or a hurricane strikes.

The Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy (WRISE) has selected six 2018 Rudd Mayer Memorial fellows and five 2018 Wind at Our Backs scholars. The group plans to recognize them at a luncheon on May 9 during the WINDPOWER 2018 Conference and Exhibition in Chicago

Clean energy has grown rapidly in the last decade, up to 18 percent of total energy deployment from 9 percent in 2008. But it remains a small fraction of overall power generation worldwide. In the United States, coal and natural gas account for more than 60 percent of electricity generation.

CleanCapital LLC and a fund manager formed by the agriculture giant Cargill Inc. are forming a partnership that plans to buy as much as $1 billion in solar projects, with CarVal Investors providing a $250 million equity investment.

Alaska's unique take on innovation is driven by its vast geography and harsh climate. For a technology to be useful here, it must perform well in remote and harsh conditions, be easy to repair and solve a real problem. This unfussy approach to innovation is at the heart of the state's emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem, where entrepreneurs, researchers, policy wonks and technologists are tackling on some of the world’s most challenging problems in the energy sector. 

The chase is on among states to become the economic and technology hub of the growing microgrid industry. California and the Northeast states are neck-and-neck. But watch for a spoiler – Alaska.

InspecTools, Inc. announced a strategic partnership with wind energy industry leader Vestas. Vestas has selected InspecTools’ drone inspection systems for wind turbine blades for inclusion in their BladeCare service package in North America, and the companies will work together to deploy this novel inspection method.

It was not that long ago solar energy developers needed to convince a capital partner there was enough sunshine in New Jersey to power homes. The uncertainty of the market, questions about the reliability of the photovoltaic panels themselves, and unfamiliarity with power purchase agreements caused significant challenges to get new projects financed. Over time, as the right policies began to align, projects were built and the cost of solar panels declined. The risks began to mitigate allowing more capital to enter the market and reduce transaction costs. Cheaper deals meant better prices for the power, better prices meant more deals, and the solar marketplace grew exponentially. Today, solar is competing for a share in the $5 trillion renewable energy market projected for 2030. This changing business landscape leads us to the next phase of solar finance.

In the five years since the White House launched its Joining Forces program to help post-9/11 veterans join the American workforce, the unemployment rate among vets has declined dramatically. In 2011, the jobless rate was more than 12%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. By 2015, that dropped to 5.8%.