News

Boston-based AEE member,  Retroficiency, is waging war on energy waste in U.S. military installations . The company is set to install its remote-auditing software in 640 military buildings around the world to identify ways to manage energy better and identify opportunities for energy-saving investment. Through the end of the year, Retroficiency’s military deployment could bring the company’s energy monitoring to over 1 billion square feet globally.

Boston-based EnerNOC entered into a demand response deal with Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), a Japanese utility still reeling from the effects of the Fukushima Taiishi accident and looking for ways to meet electric needs without the nuclear power plant – which makes demand response a natural. That arrangement is the first growing out of EnerNOC’s new joint venture with Marubeni Corp., one of the largest independent power producers in Japan.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Group announced plans to enter a team in the Formula E racing series—the world’s first all-electric auto races, which are scheduled to begin next fall in Beijing. “The launch of the Formula E Championship is exciting news for racing fans but also for those that believe in developing the great electric cars of the future,” Branson said. “The need to create fast, dependable and durable race cars will help to accelerate the sector and showcase electric cars to a large global audience.” Read more about it and see an image of the car here.

AEE member company First Solar, America’s largest solar power project developer, announced plans to expand into Japan. First Solar’s move comes as Japan pivots away from nuclear power. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the Japanese solar market is booming. The country is projected to add more solar capacity than any other country this year.

SolarCity and Tesla Motors will be expanding their partnership in battery storage technology. The two companies, which already collaborate on electric vehicle supercharging stations, have joined together to create a solar panel system with a battery storage unit included. The system, dubbed DemandLogic, would automatically store electricity during low-use hours for use during peak hours – offering savings for commercial and institutional customers that pay charges based on their peak electric load.

Hyundai announced that it plans to produce a hydrogen-fueled SUV in 2014—the first mass-market vehicle to be powered by hydrogen fuel cells. The 2014 Hyundai Tucson was unveiled Wednesday at the Los Angeles auto show, which also featured a fuel-cell concept car from Honda. Toyota alsounveiled its concept fuel-cell vehicle at the Tokyo Motor Show. Both Honda and Toyota expect to bring their fuel-cell vehicles to market in 2015.

Facebook announced this week that its new Altoona, IA, data center would be operating entirely on wind energy. The data center, which will be operational in 2015, will get its energy from a wind project in Wellsburg, IA. The Des Moines Register reports that the new data center will bring close to $1 billion to the region over six years.

Following up on last week’s reports of a “solar surge” in the Southwest, this week Arizona’s Solana solar plant went online. The system, which is currently the nation’s largest, spans three square miles of desert and uses a solar thermal system of curved mirrors to generate electricity. Arizona Public Service (APS) has a 30-year purchase agreement with the facility, which also includes energy storage capacity. 

Computing giant Microsoft announced on Monday that it entered into a 20-year wind power purchase agreement with RES Americas, an AEE member company. The 55-turbine, 110MW, $200 million Keechi project is expected to come online by summer 2015. With this agreement, Microsoft joins Apple, Walmart, andGoogle as a top-tier company with significant investment in advanced energy.

Tom Carlson, AEE's Government Affairs Policy Associate, travelled to North Carolina to speak on a panel. The Triangle Business Journal offered video of the event and quoted Carlson: "Carlson of Advanced Energy Economy said energy companies are not only asking legislators to extend the current tax cuts so investment conversations can continue, but they are also hoping to convince legislators to create long-term policies that are tech-neutral; in other words, put more permanent tax incentives in place for market stability."