GE invests in solar-powered air-con

Jeff Immelt, GE's CEO.

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At a conference held by General Electric (GE) in New York, chief executive Jeff Immelt revealed his company’s plans to invest US$45 million in 12 digital energy, or smart-grid related companies, the first of several investments planned through the company’s Ecomagination business competition. This includes a solar-powered air-con start-up.

The newly-funded entities include: ClimateWell, Consert, FMC-Tech, The Fu Foundation School for Engineering And Applied Science at Columbia University, Joulex, OPOWER, Scientific Conservation, SecureRF Corp., Sentient Energy, Soladigm, SustainX and SynapSense Corp.

Venture capital partners working with GE on this competition will invest US$10 million into these first 12 winners.

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Five of the funded start-ups are involved in grid management, five in energy efficiency for data centres, commercial buildings or homes, another is working to connect a New York City utility to the smart grid, and one has designed a solar-powered air-con system.

Beyond the US$200 million of investments in clean tech businesses through its competition, GE also revealed that it will give out five US$100,000 cash grants to support companies with earlier-stage ideas to CapStone, ElectricRoute, GridOn, IceCode and WinFlex.

GE is also planning to spend US$12 million on scholarships and university programmes to develop clean tech talent domestically over the next few years, Immelt revealed.