—Greenwood Resources (Portland, OR). This company aims to grow poplar trees as feedstock for cellulosic ethanol, saying these trees need less fertilizer and energy to produce than traditional row crops.
—Horizon Wind Energy (Portland, OR). This company is based in Houston, TX, and has a Portland office. Its Portuguese-owned parent company, Energias de Portugal, ranks third in the U.S. in wind energy capacity.
—Iberdrola Renewables (Portland, OR). This company has a portfolio of renewable energy generation facilities, including wind, solar, and natural gas. Its customers include Puget Energy and Portland General Electric.
—InEnTec (Bend, OR). This company, which has technology roots in the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and MIT, is using high-temperature gasification to turn municipal garbage into ethanol. It said in October that it got a $150 million equity commitment from Chicago-based Lakeside Energy to build a gasification plant to turn chemical waste into renewable fuel at a Dow Corning facility in Midland, MI.
—Micro Power Electronics (Beaverton, OR). This company makes more than 1,000 different battery systems, including lithium-ion batteries. Its battery packs and chargers are designed to help medical and military products run longer on a charge, reduce charging time, and decrease their size and weight.
—Nth Power (San Francisco and Portland, OR). This cleantech venture fund, one of the nation’s first to specialize in the field, was founded in 1997 by Nancy Floyd, who is based in Portland. She spoke last summer about cleantech at the Democratic National Convention.
—NuScale Power (Corvallis, OR). Like the name suggests, this company operates a small nuclear power plant. The company spun out of federally-funded research at Oregon State University to improve natural circulation for cooling nuclear power plants. The reactor and containment vessel are completely submerged in a water-filled pool underground, providing a low-profile target in the wake of post 9/11 security concerns, the company says.
—Oregon Iron Works (Clackamas, OR). This company manufactures devices to capture energy from ocean waves.
—OVP Venture Partners (Portland, OR and Kirkland, WA). Managing director Gerry Langeler is based in Portland, and oversees the firm’s cleantech investments. He sits on boards of cleantech companies in Seattle, San Francisco, and Boise, ID, although he says he’s still looking for the right opportunity in Oregon. (Editor’s Note: This entry was added March 5)
—Pacific Ethanol (Sacramento, CA and Portland, OR). This company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:PEIX]]) says its goal is to be the leading marketer of low-carbon renewable fuels in the Western U.S. The company has run into financial trouble, and has had to shut down operations at two 60 million gallon-a-year ethanol factories in Burley, ID, and Stockton, CA.
—Peak Sun Silicon (Salem, OR). This company was founded by John Schumacher, who founded the Schumacher company as a supplier of chemicals and equipment to the semiconductor industry. The new endeavor aims to make more efficient polysilicon that turns sunlight into electricity.
—Perpetua Power Source Technologies (Corvallis, OR). This company makes thermoelectric generators that convert temperature differences across different materials into electricity.
—Pivotal Investments Fund (Portland, OR). This venture firm seeks to invest cleantech companies in the early stages of development in the Northwest. Pivotal has three managing directors: Gregory Semler, Bradley Zenger, and John Miner. (Editor’s Note: This entry was added March 5)
—PowerMand (Portland, OR). This company offers technology to monitor and control energy use for utilities, and renewable suppliers. It also has a product, DreamWatts, that enables customers to reduce peak demand electricity usage in homes and small businesses.
—PV Powered (Bend, OR). The company has made inverters for the solar photovoltaic market since 2004. In September, it said it was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy for a contract worth as much as $5 million to help lower the lifetime cost of solar electricity, and improve reliability.
