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Threatened by the growth of distributed solar, utilities are striking back with a PR effort that essentially paints residential solar panel users as energy freeloaders.

In the ever-shifting ranking of the most promising areas of cleantech, Aaron Mandell names the top three that hold huge opportunities for ambitious entrepreneurs.

A breakdown of PwC’s MoneyTree quarterly report on VC investments, fundraising, and trends in cleantech and corporate VC deals.

The Senate Armed Services committee grills Naval energy affairs nominee Dennis McGinn about the Navy’s costly renewable energy programs.

The launch of a test center in New York will commercialize new storage solutions just in time for FERC Order 784, a big step forward for grid storage.

A dozen states in the US totaled 85 percent of solar capacity in 2012, says Environment America. Unsurprisingly, these states have embraced policies to support the development of solar technology. If the rest of the states implement similar policies, the US could produce 10 percent of its energy from solar by 2030, says Environment America. Consumers in 11 of the 12 states have benefited from net metering policies, which fairly compensate them for the surplus of the electricity they provide to the grid. Solar costs have dropped significantly by 20 percent between 2010 and 2011 and later, by 27 percent in 2012. As far as 2013, there are around 119,000 people working in the US solar industry.

Smart Grid VC funding failed to get out of its rut in the second quarter, staying in the range of $50-70 million over the past 2 years. Q2 2013 represented the lowest funding quarter in the past four years. Out of the $50 million in VC funding, home and building automation companies accounted for $33 million in five deals, grid optimization companies with $17 million in three deals, and advanced meter infrastructure and security companies with one million each. Enlighted, the top deal, raised $20 million. There were three M&A transactions that took place in Q2.

Industry consolidation, a spike in demand, and residential market innovations will lead to greater profits in 2 years, says an analyst panel at Intersolar.

While backing for master-limited partnerships (MLPs) for renewable energy companies grows stronger every day, the financing mechanism faces an uphill battle in Congress.

Cleantech investors gathered in Midtown Manhattan to hear about—and potentially pounce on—cleantech’s Next Big Thing.