Tendril Completes $12 Million in Series B Funding

BOULDER, Colo., -- Tendril has completed a Series B round of funding worth $12 million that will fuel the company's rapid expansion in providing energy management solutions to the utility industry. The lead investor in this round is RRE Ventures in New York (http://www.rre.com), who joins Vista Ventures, Access Venture Partners and Appian Ventures as major investors in Tendril. This investment follows Tendril's announcement earlier this quarter regarding the beta release of the Tendril Energy Management System (EMS), which facilitates dialogue between consumers an utilities for more intelligent, consumer-centric control of energy consumption. Link.

Solazyme Announces New Senior Director of Business and Strategy

South San Francisco, Calif. – Solazyme, Inc., a leading synthetic biology company that harnesses the power of microalgae to renewably produce clean and scalable high performance biofuels, “green” chemicals and health and wellness products, announced that it has named Walter G. Rakitsky, Ph.D. to the position of Senior Director, Business and Strategy. Dr. Rakitsky has more than 25 years of experience in applied research and development, business development, business-to-business marketing, commercial development, and business management. Most recently, he was vice president of commercial development for Advanced BioNutrition, a venture capital-backed company developing algae derived functional ingredients to improve animal health and nutrition. Link.

Pacific Ethanol Closes $40 Million Equity Investment

Sacramento, California, —Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (NASDAQ GM: PEIX) today announced that it has closed the transactions contemplated under its Securities Purchase Agreement dated March 18, 2008 with Lyles United, LLC. The Company sold (i) 2,051,282 shares of its Series B Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock, all of which are initially convertible into an aggregate of 6,153,846 shares of the Company’s common stock based on an initial three-for-one conversion ratio, and (ii) a warrant to purchase an aggregate of 3,076,923 shares of the Company’s common stock at an exercise price of $7.00 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of $40 million. In addition, the Company received waivers from its lenders as to defaults under its Credit Agreement. Link. Chart.

MIT Startup 1366 Technologies Raises $12 Million

Lexington, Mass. –– 1366 Technologies, a new MIT start-up aiming to make silicon solar cells competitive with coal, announced it has secured $12.4 million in a first round of financing co-led by North Bridge Venture Partners and Polaris Venture Partners. MIT Professor, 1366 founder and CTO, Ely Sachs, noted that 1366 Technologies will be combining innovations in silicon cell architecture with manufacturing process improvements to bring multi-crystalline silicon solar cells to cost parity with coal-based electricity. Sachs added, “The science is understood, the raw materials are abundant and the products work. All that is left to do is innovate in manufacturing and scale up volume production, and that’s just what we intend to do.” The company has just taken space in Lexington to build its pilot solar cell manufacturing facility. Link.

GridPoint Appoints Energy Experts to Board of Advisors - Announces $15 Million Investment

WASHINGTON −− GridPoint Inc., a leading clean tech company whose smart grid platform benefits electric utilities, consumers and the environment, announced the appointment of new members to its board of advisors, including energy technology pioneer Robert N. Danziger, Chairman of the Midwest ISO Paul J. Feldman, former Deputy Secretary of Energy T.J. Glauthier, former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, and CERA Chairman and Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel Yergin. GridPoint also announced a strategic investment of $15 million by the Quercus Trust, a prominent investor in alternative energy companies. Since the company’s inception in November 2003, GridPoint has raised $102 million in equity capital. Link.

Elevance Renewable Sciences Launched to Create and Deliver Renewable Specialty Chemicals

Lisle, Ill., – Elevance™ Renewable Sciences, Inc., a new specialty chemical company based on groundbreaking, proven technology, is harnessing the potential of natural oils to produce a portfolio of commercial products across multiple markets. Elevance was formed to institutionalize work started in 2004 in collaboration between Cargill, one of the world’s largest producers of agricultural oils, and Materia, a leading edge technology organization leveraging patents from the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), to catalyze the commercial production of renewable chemicals. A $40M round of funding was led by TPG Growth and TPG Biotechnology Partners. Link.

Codexis Names David Anton VP Bioindustrials R&D

Redwood City, CA - Codexis, Inc., today announced the appointment of David Anton, Ph.D. to the newly-created position of Vice President, Bioindustrials Research and Development. He joins Codexis from DuPont, where he was Venture Manager, Biofuels. He will report to Alan Shaw, Ph.D., President and CEO. Codexis, Inc., a clean technology company, is a leading developer of biocatalytic process technologies that can substantially reduce the cost of manufacturing across a broad range of industries. Link.

Materia / Cargill Venture Secures Independent Financing

PASADENA, CA -- Materia, Inc., a catalyst technology company and Caltech spin-off, announced today the creation and independent financing of a new company that builds on technology developed by Materia in partnership with Cargill, Incorporated. The new entity, named Elevance Renewable Sciences, Inc. , will harness the potential of natural oils combined with Materia’s Nobel Prize winning metathesis technology to aggressively grow in the $500 billion specialty chemicals market. Emerging from collaboration between Materia and Cargill that started in 2004 after receiving a $1.8 MM matching grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, Elevance was recently formed and secured more than $40 million in venture capital led by investments from TPG STAR, L.P. and TPG Biotechnology Partners II, L.P. The new company expects to generate over $1 billion in sales by 2016. Link.

Metabolix Names Joseph Hill Chief Financial Officer

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., -- Metabolix, Inc. (NASDAQ: MBLX), a bioscience company focused on developing clean, sustainable solutions for the world's needs for plastics, chemicals and energy, announced today that Joseph Hill has been appointed chief financial officer, effective April 8, 2008. Mr. Hill has more than twenty years of professional experience in finance including more than fifteen years of experience at the executive level. Most recently, Mr. Hill served as senior vice president and chief financial officer at Amicas, Inc., a publicly traded company with annual revenue of approximately $52 million. Link. Chart.

UQM Technologies Names Joseph P. Sellinger to Board of Directors

FREDERICK, COLORADO, …UQM TECHNOLOGIES, INC. (AMEX: UQM), a developer of alternative energy technologies, announced today the appointment of Joseph P. Sellinger to the Company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Sellinger will replace Dr. Ernest H. Drew who will be retiring in the summer. Link. Chart.

Suntech Closes Offering of US$575 Million Convertible Senior Notes

WUXI, China, March 18 -- Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP) announced today the closing of the offering of US$575 million of 3.00% Convertible Senior Notes due 2013 to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The offering closed on March 17, 2008. The aggregate principal amount of notes sold reflects the exercise in full by the initial purchasers of their option to purchase up to an additional US$75 million of the notes to cover over-allotments. Link. Chart.

GreatPoint Energy Appoints Jerry Oliver as Executive Vice President

Cambridge, MA, – GreatPoint Energy, Inc., the leading developer of catalytic gasification technology to convert coal, petroleum coke and biomass into clean natural gas while enabling the capture and sequestration of CO2, today announced that Jerry Oliver, an energy industry veteran with extensive technology development experience and former senior vice president of project development at the FutureGen Industrial Alliance, has joined the company as executive vice president, commercialization. In this capacity, Mr. Oliver will be responsible for the development of GreatPoint Energy’s first commercial project. Link.

Evergreen Energy Makes Management Appointments

DENVER --Evergreen Energy Inc (NYSE: EEE) has named Mike Rosenberg vice president of business development for the United States and promoted Scott Terhune, director of international business development, to vice president with the same responsibilities at Evergreen Energy International. In addition, the company has added to its engineering and environmental permitting ranks with three staff appointments in recent weeks. Link. Chart.

Renaissance Lighting Names New Sales Chief

Herndon, VA. -- Renaissance Lighting, a pioneering innovator of solid-state LED architectural lighting, has named Robert T. McCulley, 45, vice president and new head of the company’s global sales organization. The announcement, by CEO Barry Weinbaum, is an integral part of Renaissance Lighting’s repositioning efforts toward a major transformation of the lighting industry. McCulley, a 24-year veteran of the lighting industry, most recently was director of sales at Color Kinetics, responsible for expanding that company’s business across the western United States and Canada, as well as in Central and South America. Prior to that, McCulley held senior sales positions in Texas, for Atlanta, GA-based E. Sam Jones, and American Light in Austin. Link.

Suntech Announces Proposed Offering of US$425 Million Convertible Senior Notes

WUXI, China, -- Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP) announced that it intends, subject to market and other conditions, to offer an aggregate of US$425 million convertible senior notes due 2013, in a private offering to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A. In some circumstances, the notes will be convertible into, at Suntech's election, cash, American depositary shares (''ADSs'') representing Suntech's ordinary shares or a combination of cash and ADSs. The interest rate, conversion price and other terms of the notes will be determined at the time of pricing of the offering. Suntech intends to grant to the initial purchasers a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional US$75 million of the notes to cover over-allotments, if any. Link. Chart.

Carol Browner Joins APX’s Board of Directors

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--APX, Inc., the leading infrastructure provider for environmental and energy markets, announced that Carol Browner, former Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has joined its Board of Directors. Ms. Browner, who has a distinguished career in public service, brings to APX’s Board deep expertise in environmental policy, including climate change issues. Link.

Ultralife Announces Appointment of Philip A. Fain as Vice President of Business Development

NEWARK, N.Y.--Ultralife (NASDAQ: ULBI) announced the appointment of Mr. Philip A. Fain as vice president of business development. In addition, the company announced Mr. Fain's election as a corporate officer. Reporting to John D. Kavazanjian, Ultralife's president and chief executive officer, Fain's responsibilities will include supporting the ongoing integration of the company's recent acquisitions and managing the company's new business and strategic alliance opportunities. Link. Chart.

International Rectifier Appoints Don Dancer Executive Vice President

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--International Rectifier Corporation (NYSE:IRF) announced the appointment of Donald Dancer as Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer. In this role, Mr. Dancer will oversee International Rectifier's legal, human resources, compliance, mergers and acquisitions and investor relations functions and will report directly to the Company's Chief Executive Officer, Oleg Khaykin. Link. Chart.

SolFocus Appoints Senior Executives to Head European Operations

MADRID, Spain – SolFocus today announced the appointment of Roberto de Diego Arozamena as Managing Director of SolFocus Europe, and Pedro Ladron de Guevara de Echavarria as Vice President and General Manager of the company’s Tracking Systems Business Division. These appointments are crucial steps following the November election of the SolFocus Europe board of
directors which includes business leader, economist, and Repsol Board member Paulina Beato and Germano Fanelli, Chairman of Arrow EMEASA. The announcement was made by company Chairman Gary D. Conley. Link.

LDK Solar Appoints Dr. Junwu Liang to Board of Directors

XINYU CITY, China and SUNNYVALE, Calif., -- LDK Solar Co., Ltd. (NYSE: LDK), a leading manufacturer of multicrystalline solar wafers, today announced that it has appointed Dr. Junwu Liang as an independent director to its board of directors. Dr. Liang will serve on LDK's Audit, Compensation and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committees. Link. Chart.

GE To Support Think Electric Vehicles and A123Systems Batteries

GENEVA and WASHINGTON - March 5, 2008 - GE (NYSE: GE) announced it is ramping up its efforts to enable global electrification of transportation by investing in Norwegian electric car manufacturer Think. To power its vehicles, Think has signed a commercial supply agreement with lithium-ion battery manufacturer A123Systems. GE is in a unique position to help both companies commercialize technology to make electric transportation practical and affordable. The commercial supply agreement with A123Systems provides Think with patented NanophosphateTM lithium-ion batteries for the TH!NK City, now in production at the company's factory in Norway. Think is delivering its first cars in Norway, with international sales to follow later in the year. Link.

Climos Closes on $3.5M Series A Financing

SAN FRANCISCO, California -- Climos, a startup company focused on large scale techniques to mitigate climate change, announced the close of a $3.5M Series A round of financing led by Braemar Energy Ventures. Also participating was Elon Musk, a well known entrepreneur and new technology investor. Link.

Adam Briggs Promoted to CEO of Millennium Cell

EATONTOWN, N.J.--Millennium Cell Inc. (NASDAQ: MCEL), a leading developer of hydrogen battery technology, today announced that Adam P. Briggs, 46, the Company's President, has been promoted to the position of Chief Executive Officer effective at the time of the Company's Annual Meeting in April 2008. Mr. Briggs will also be nominated by the Board of Directors to be on the slate of directors scheduled to be voted upon at the Company's Annual Meeting. H. David Ramm, the Company's current CEO and a Board Member will serve as Chairman of Millennium Cell's Board of Directors after his resignation as CEO becomes effective. Link. Chart.

VRB Power appoints Justin K Lacey as Vice President, Sales and Marketing

Richmond, B.C. – VRB Power Systems Inc. (TSX-V: VRB) announces the appointment
of Justin K Lacey as Vice President, Sales and Marketing. Mr. Lacey brings to VRB Power a wealth of knowledge and expertise in marketing and selling complex, high technology product and services to customers around the world. Most recently, Justin K Lacey was head of the worldwide marketing efforts for the business aircraft division of Bombardier Aerospace where his efforts contributed to an unprecedented growth in sales around the world, particularly in growth and emerging marketing outside of North America. Link. Chart.