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EV Truck Co. Establishes Assembly Plant

Smith Electric Vehicles, a subsidiary of UK-based Tanfield Group Plc (TAN.L) and a manufacturer of highway-ready electric vans and trucks, announced it would establish an assembly facility in the US at an undislosed location. The company, which currently produces 5 vehicles a week, says that should double by the end of the year, and triple production to 30 per week by the end of 2008. Smith expects exports to comprise 40-50% of sales next year, up from about 15%. Its 7.5-ton Newton truck has a range of 130 miles and a top speed of 50 miles per hour. It costs $120,000. The group recently launched 3.5 and 9 ton vehicles for the small van market, and will soon introduce a 12-ton vehicle. Clients include delivery firm TNT (TNT.AS) and British retailer Marks & Spencer Plc (MKS.L). Starbucks (SBUX) and DHL (DOWG.DE) are testing the vehicles. Tanfield’s California facility makes electric cherry pickers, and the company is raising output there from 25 vehicles a week.

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DayStar Gets Bridge Financing Commitment

DayStar Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: DSTI), a developer and manufacturer of CIGS photovoltaic products, announced it has signed a commitment letter with an existing investor to provide up to $4 million of bridge financing to the Company. This financing will be subject to negotiation of satisfactory definitive agreements.

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Petra Solar Raises First Round

Petra Solar, a developer of power electronics for solar systems, has raised $14 million Series A financing round. The round was led by DFJ Element and BlueRun Ventures. National Technology Enterprises Co. also participated. The investment will be used for product development and global market expansion. Petra Solar focuses on increasing efficiencies and significantly reducing the cost of installed solar electric systems through the introduction of innovative power electronics. The company has a strong IP position. “Petra Solar’s innovative products provide truly modular and scalable PV systems. Such systems have higher efficiency, better reliability and simplified Balance of System in addition to easier maintenance,” said David Lincoln, Managing Director, DFJ Element. About Petra Solar Petra Solar is introducing intelligent, digitally controlled, distributed and scalable products that manage power out of solar modules and into the grid, batteries and loads. Solar Electric systems built with Petra Solar’s products have higher efficiencies and are much easier to design, build, maintain and scale. Website: [sorry this link is no longer available]     

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Intechra Raises Another $30M

Electronics lifecycle management company Intechra Holding Corp. announced it has secured $30 million in new equity funding led by Richland Ventures of Nashville, Oxford Bioscience Partners of Boston and First Avenue Partners of Nashville. “Our clients are demanding an expanded breadth of services and geographic reach to serve their needs,” said Intechra CEO Chip Slack. “This additional equity capital significantly enhances our ability to do both and complete our growth plan over the next two years, including our global growth strategy.” Intechra helps large businesses recycle end-of-life IT assets to derive their highest value while mitigating the data security and environmental risks of asset disposal. During the past two years, Intechra has attracted over $50 million in private equity funding. “We are very excited about our recent investment in Intechra, a national e-lifecycle company that is well positioned in an emerging market,” said Matt Gibbs, General Partner of Oxford Bioscience Partners. “We see electronics lifecycle management as a growth segment, particularly with its critical importance to large healthcare and lifescience companies, which are under tremendous pressure to comply with data security and environmental disposal regulations.” Co-investors in the financing include among others, Chrysalis Ventures, Sewanee Partners and SJF Ventures. Intechra […]

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Suntech Starts Construction of Thin Film Plant

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP), one of the world’s leading manufacturers of photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, has begun construction on a thin film R&D and manufacturing facility in Caohejing Hi-tech Park in Shanghai, China. The first phase of the new plant is expected to begin operation in 2008 reaching 50MW of thin film solar cell production capacity in 2009. Suntech’s thin film module production will be based on technology that deposits amorphous and micro-crystalline silicon thin film on glass substrate. The product will use less than 2% of the silicon required to manufacture equivalent crystalline silicon PV products. Suntech currently projects that the thin film modules will have a solar conversion efficiency of 6% to 9% and an initial production cost of approximately $1.20 per watt (based on 6% solar conversion efficiency), which should decline as both production scale and conversion efficiencies increase. The thin film modules will be nearly 6 square meters in size, which would make the balance of system installation costs of Suntech’s thin film solution significantly lower than other PV solutions. “After having acquired MSK, one of the industry leaders in the building integrated photovoltaic products (BIPV) space, we were very pleased to […]

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Climate Awareness Bond Launched

A “Climate Awareness Bond” linked to the performance of a new index of companies with environmental policies has been launched by the European Investment Bank. In what is expected to be the largest syndicated equity-index linked bond to date, the 5-year euro bond will be used for the bank’s lending projects in renewable energy and energy efficiency. “The EU has taken a leading role in tackling climate change. With this bond EIB is inviting investors and the banking community to join that endeavor, further highlighting EIB’s commitment to promoting EU objectives,” Bertrand de Mazieres, director general of finance at the bank, said in a statement. Instead of paying a coupon, the bond will be redeemed at 100% of face value plus an amount at maturity linked to the performance of the FTSE4Good Environmental Leaders Europe 40 index, floored at 5 percent. If the amount exceeds 25%, investors can use the excess to buy and cancel CO2 allowances under the European Union emission trading scheme. Dresdner Kleinwort, Merrill Lynch and UniCredit are managing the sale. The bond will be offered to investors from May 29 to June 22.

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MEMC to be Added to S&P 500

MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR), a silcon manufacturer, has been admitted to the widely tracked S&P 500 index. It will replace investment brokerage Kinder Morgan which is being acquired by an investor group. Shares of MEMC Electronic Materials jumped about 3 percent on the news in extended trade.

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