California solar company Solyndra plans to close one of its two factories and cut by half its production target over the next three years, according to reports.  The New York Times released the story just hours after polls closed on Nov. 2.  Solyndra received a $535 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy to build its second factory.

The City of Houston has embarked on a project to improve the energy efficiency of 271 city buildings.  Mayor Bill White and the Houston City Council have signed a contract with Siemens and T.A.C. committing approximately 11 million square feet to the Clinton Climate Initiative's (CCI) Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program, the largest-scale project in this initiative so far.

Cogenra Solar recently installed a bank of solar panels with a difference at a northern California winery. These "hybrid" solar panels combine conventional photovoltaic solar cells with a system for collecting waste heat. This produces electricity for lighting and bottling equipment, and creates hot water that can be used for washing tanks and barrels.

DOE is developing Workforce Guidelines for Home Energy Upgrades to foster the growth of a high quality residential retrofit industry and a skilled and credentialed workforce, and has just released the draft for public comment.  These voluntary guidelines will benefit for workers, homeowners, businesses, and training providers. Once finalized, the guidelines can be adopted by home energy retrofit programs nationwide seeking to increase the consistency and effectiveness of the work performed, and utilized by training providers to improve course curriculum and other training materials.
Read the entire article and review the draft here.

This course will build on the morning session on Venture Development Academy - Investor Ready Deals and discusses renewable energy ventures in greater detail.  While the energy sector represents tremendous opportunities, renewable energy projects and ventures face a unique set of challenges in coming out of the proverbial "valley of death."

The afternoon session will look at the drivers for energy markets and provide tools for validating deals from project site selection standpoint and policy issues.  The course allows entrepreneurs, economic developers and investors to assess venture risk in five key areas:  technology, market, management, finance and execution.   Attendees will be exposed to the Butterfly Model© of inter-organizational collaboration which provides a multi-stakeholder framework to deploy successful renewable energy and emerging technology projects.

Registration for the full conference is only $65 and includes all conference sessions and luncheon with keynote speaker Bill Rancic (winner of the first The Apprentice show) and a special breakfast presentation by Jim Barksdale.

To register on-line please click here or call 1-601-960-3610 for more information.