Joint venture makes $20 million bid for ailing EV company Fisker

A joint venture consisting of China-based Wanxiang group, former General Motors head Bob Lutz and industrial Gilbert Villarreal offers troubled electric vehicle manufacturer Fisker Automotive in a prefabricated insolvency purchase valued at $20 million, to deal according to reports.

Like Tesla Motors, which recently their loans repaid, $529 million in the form of received vehicles Fisker Automotive of loans from the Department of energy (DOE) under the advanced technology manufacturing loan program.

In contrast to Tesla Fiskers issued loans was seized but money by DOE if the company not to payments or to meet production quotas. The company has approximately 171 million $ in DOE loans still outstanding.

Fisker was founded in August 2007 by Henrik Fisker, who later left the company, that relying on differences of opinion over corporate strategy. Reuters reported that Fisker and a Hong Kong-based investor named Richard Li are common Fiskers DOE pay off loans and save the carmaker from bankruptcy.

Fisker dismissed three-quarters of its workforce in April. The company has its headquarters in Anaheim, California.

According to the company, Fisker was valued at around 2 billion $ until 2011.

The lone car, the Karma Fisker has a base price of more than $100,000. The company has sold a car reportedly since July 2012.

Wanxiang group bought Fisker's former battery manufacturer, A123 systems, at an auction in 2012, after the bankruptcy of the company.

Lutz was quoted in 2008 as saying that the electrification of the automobile "inevitable."

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Report names top 20 U.S. company solar users

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Costco Wholesale and Kohl's Department stores the top 20 U.S. companies on the ground carry solar energy capacity, according a report by the solar energy industries Association (SEIA) and the vote solar initiative. Combined, the top 20 companies solar photovoltaic (PV) user installations, the total at least 279 megawatts, generating an estimated $47.3 million worth of electricity per year. SEIA and vote solar published the results on September 12.

The amount of solar installed by the top 20 solar-powered companies you could more than 46,500 average U.S. homes. Could a total U.S. commercial solar systems makes more than 390,000 American apartments. More than 700 individual PV systems have provided the companies analyzed for this report on their investments in at least 25 States and Puerto Rico. Is rounded out the list in order, are IKEA, Macy's, McGraw-Hill, Johnson & Johnson, Staples, Inc., Campbell Soup, Walgreens, bed bath & beyond, toys 'R' US, General Motors, FedEx, White Rose food, Dow Jones, Snyder's of Hanover, ProLogis, Hartz mountain industries and Crayola. Find the SEIA press release and the full report Web page.

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Michigan company provides production EV systems

The Energy Department on 16 April announced the opening of an electric vehicle (EV) component production plant in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan. Factory Magna E-car systems received $ 40 million in American recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funds from the Department of energy of the system is Ford focus EV components to the EV systems, including those in the 2012. It supports EV anywhere the Department challenge to have a broad-based initiative of EVs within the next 10 years making today's gasoline-powered vehicles more affordable and more convenient.

The production site of 50,000 square metres will produce a variety of EV components in the high-volume under one roof, and next year it will produce 500,000 EV components. Production has already begun, and at full production, the plant be full electric vehicle drive systems allows for the production of electric motors, power electronics, battery chargers and vehicle controller to assemble. The Magna E-car systems plant is one of the 30 battery and electric drive expanded production facilities from the Recovery Act supports. See the press release of DOE and the vehicle technologies Web site.

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Japanese Nuclear Power Company Under Fire Over Unethical Conduct

The Japanese government minister in charge of the nuclear industry has lashed out at one of the country's leading nuclear energy companies, accusing it of watering down a report that found the firm guilty of manipulating public opinion.

An independent panel found that the Kyushu Electric Power company stacked public meetings with employees pretending to be ordinary citizens.

The report also implicated the governor of the prefecture in the scandal.

But in its own report responding to the panel's findings the nuclear power company dismisses the scandal.

Presenter: Mark Willacy, North Asia correspondent
Speaker: Yukio Edano, Japanese Industry Minister; Toshio Manabe, president of Kyushu Electric Power

WILLACY: It was the Kyushu Electric Power company's response to a damning report into its manipulation of public opinion.

The independent panel found the firm stacked public meetings with its own employees - employees pretending to be ordinary citizens who stood up and spoke in favour of nuclear power.

The panel found improper links between the company and the governor of the prefecture where its key nuclear plant was based.

It found Kyushu Electric had engaged in other improper tactics, twisting public opinion by sending in fake emails to a TV broadcast about nuclear power.

But in its own report responding to the panel's findings Kyushu Electric brushed off the scandal and the governor's name hardly even gets a mention.

"Kyushu Electric has some nerve doing this," says a clearly livid industry minister Yukio Edano. "Especially given the public's scepticism at the moment about nuclear power. I just can't understand it," he says.

The report of the independent panel and the report of the Kyushu Electric Power company could be about totally different things - a criticism the firm's president swept aside under questioning at a press conference.

"It's inevitable there'll be some differences of opinion between the two reports," says Toshio Manabe with considerable understatement.

The independent panel found that Kyushu Electric moved to take unethical actions like stacking meetings with undercover employees after being told by the governor Yasushi Furukawa that he wanted to hear positive opinions about nuclear power.

The panel called for there to be more transparency in the relationship between the governor and the nuclear company.

"Our company firmly believes there's nothing wrong in our relationship with the governor," says Kyushu Electric's president Toshio Manabe. "These false charges shouldn't be laid." he says.

Back in Tokyo, the minister in charge of the nuclear industry was having none of it.

"Kyushu Electric's management has failed to address the contradictions between its report and the independent panel's finding," says industry minister Yukio Edano. "This raises serious questions about its governance and I will now consider ordering the company to re-issue its report," he says.

No longer does Japan's nuclear industry appear to have a lap-dog minister in Tokyo promoting its interests.

Kyushu Electric's blinding arrogance in this case will only feed growing public cynicism and anger about the sort of people running Japan's nuclear power plants.

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Widening scandal at nuclear company

12 July 2011 last update at 09: 49 GMT
the Kyushu E-mail scandal sparked protests last week put dozens of workers at Japan's Kyushu electric company as citizens and lobbying be reopened for a power plant says an internal investigation.
A whistleblower revealed last week that about 50 workers back up after a televised debate Genkai plant restart a plan of the Kyushu E-mails had sent.

But the company internal investigation has found that more than 100 people may have been involved in.

Two-thirds of Japan are 54 reactors since the 11 March earthquake in idle.

9.0 Magnitude tremors, and the massive tsunami destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi plant triggers, and sparked a review of the nuclear industry of the country.

All nuclear power plants, which have been concluded for routine inspections were ordered, remain closed until its security could be guaranteed.

The plant in Genkai, in the South, was one of the first plants once again be opened to.

But the Government announcement last week a more stringent tests on the company thwarted attempts to have restarted reactors across the Board.

Popularity slump

The E-mail scandal has company boss made another blow to Kyushu electric, and a public apology last week.

National public NHK reported that employees more than 30% of all messages sent in support of the Genkai plant is opened again taken into account the messages from Kyushu.

In the meantime, Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced that Japan needs to rethink their commitment to nuclear energy.

Before the crisis of Fukushima, the country had 53% aligned his power until 2030 to nuclear.

But Mr Kan said, this obligation should be scrapped, and the reliance on nuclear power should be reduced.

The Prime Minister, who was under tremendous pressure to resign, has broken into his lowest level of popularity, since his prior to little more than a year assuming.

According to the most recent polls, only 16% of the population believe that he does a good job.

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NASDAQ welcomes leading renewable oil company Solazyme

NEW YORK, may 27, 2011 GLOBE NEWSWIRE)-the NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) announced today that trade with Solazyme, a renewable oil company and a leader in industrial biotechnology, on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange on Friday, may 27, 2011 started. Solazyme is under the ticker symbol (NASDAQ: SZYM) listed and one is high by most expected renewable oil of IPOs of the year.

"NASDAQ OMX is a pioneer in the field of clean energy, such as our comprehensive family of indexes for the global green economy (https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/green.aspx)," said Bruce Aust, Executive Vice President and head of NASDAQ OMX corporate client group. "Solazyme an example of the type of the most innovative and forward-thinking companies that thrive on our Exchange." "We are thrilled that welcome them on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange and look forward to just their continued growth and success in the future."

Solazyme is a renewable oil company and leader in industrial biotechnology. 2003 Founded and headquartered in South San Francisco, Solazyme's proprietary technology is to transform a number of low-cost plant sugar in high-quality oils.  Solazyme's oils and fuels offer convincing solutions of fuel scarcity, energy security and environmental impact for increasingly complex problems while fitting into the existing infrastructure.

NASDAQ OMX is the choice for the clean energy community and 72% of companies listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange NASDAQ clean index (CELS) contain edge green energy. NASDAQ OMX offers almost 70 green economy in addition to the investment community CELS indexes that help, companies, investors and policy makers to understand and profit from clean technologies.

About NASDAQ OMX

The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. is the world's largest exchange company. It provides trading, Exchange technology and public company services across six continents, with more than 3,500 listed companies. NASDAQ OMX offers multiple capital raising solutions companies all over the world, including their US offers market, NASDAQ OMX Nordic, NASDAQ OMX Baltic, NASDAQ OMX first North and the U.S. 144A sector. The company offers trading across multiple asset classes such as equities, derivatives, debt, commodities, structured products and exchange traded funds. NASDAQ OMX technology supports the operations of over 70 exchanges, clearing organizations and central value securities depositories points in more than 50 countries. NASDAQ OMX Nordic and NASDAQ OMX Baltic are not legal entities but describe the common offering from NASDAQ OMX Exchange in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Iceland, Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. For more information about NASDAQ OMX, visit http://www.nasdaqomx.com. * Follow NASDAQ OMX on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/NASDAQ-OMX/108167527653) and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/nasdaqomx).

NDAQG

Contact: Alexandra Honeysett Alexandra.Honeysett@nasdaqomx.com + 1 646 441 5211 Jen Knapp Jennifer.Knapp@nasdaqomx.com + 1 212 401 8916

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