Clean Energy and Intellectual Property – Green Inc. – The New York Times

On Wednesday, that group and representatives of General Electric, Microsoft and Sunrise Solar gathered in Washington to launch the Innovation, Development & Employment Alliance, or I.D.E.A. The initiative is aimed at pressing Congress and the Obama administration to ensure that global climate-treaty talks don’t weaken protections on who can profit from new technologies that provide abundant energy without abundant pollution.

Flow Batteries: EnerVault Quietly Building Energy Storage for the Grid – Earth2Tech

Flow batteries are similar to large fuel cells but generally use large storage tanks full of electrolytes and pumps that circulate the solution through the system. This week we had the chance to connect with Craig Horne, president and CEO of a quiet, year-old company called EnerVault based in Sunnyvale, Calif., that’s building flow batteries for energy storage for the power grid.

2nd APS solar plant may surpass target set for green energy – The Arizona Republic

The plant will occupy about 3 square miles of farmland in the Harquahala Valley 75 miles west of the Phoenix city limits. With a 290-megawatt capacity, the plant will provide enough energy to power 72,500 homes while the sun shines, and it will keep the power flowing six hours after sunset by storing heat.

Oppenheimer ups Canadian Solar to outperform, shares up – Reuters

The analyst [Sam Dubinsky] noted that the upgraded metallurgic grade (UMG) silicon overhang was abating. Canadian Solar had adopted UMG silicon in the wake of soaring polysilicon prices.

“We believe Canadian Solar will deemphasize UMG in 2009 and shift capacity to mainstream modules. UMG has been an overhang as investors have questioned whether the product can gain traction in a declining poly pricing environment,” he said.

Duke Energy unit buys Pennsylvania wind farm – Pittsburg Business Times

Duke Energy Generation Services is acquiring its first wind-power farm in the eastern United States, a 70-megawatt facility 95 miles north of Pittsburgh.