The parking of four local department stores will soon be home to electric car charging stations that are part of the EV Project. The charger pods containing four stations will go up outside Kohl's locations in Hermitage, Cool Springs, Spring Hill and Murfreesboro.

Nissan has signed a two-year research partnership agreement with General Electric to study ways to strengthen the electric-car charging network. Much of the work will be done at the companies' facilities near Albany and Detroit and will focus on both house-level issues and big-picture grid dynamics.

Several projects around the two focus areas already are underway. In one project, researchers from the companies are studying how electric cars like Nissan LEAF can be incorporated into GE's overall concept for a Smart Home. Nissan engineers are developing methods to connect the vehicle to the home, making it a more integrated part of the building's energy equipment. This project will look at how the addition of an electric car impacts the cost of electricity and changes overall home electricity loads.

In another study, researchers will use aggregate usage data along with sophisticated simulation and modeling experiments, to analyze the effect millions of electric cars could have on our electrical distribution system.

Choice Solar Solutions has committed to buying photovoltaic panels from a Luxembourg-Chinese manufacturer solar panels for the next three years. The agreement between the companies involves modules that will have a generation capacity of 30 megawatt peak. Choice intends to roll them out at installations in Tennessee, Alabama and South Carolina.

Hemlock Semiconductor's $1.2 billion Clarksville plant is still more than a year from opening, but the company has entered into talks with state officials about growing the site with an investment that would more than triple its polycrystalline silicon operation. The AP's Erik Schelzig has the story.

SEE ALSO: An update on the current construction work, which now has some 1,600 people on site

Ethanol Producer has an update on the Iowa bioreactor being built by a joint venture that includes Franklin-based Clarcor. The groundbreaking facility is looking to commercialize the production of algae by converting byproducts from ethanol production, but an end market for those algae hasn't yet materialized.

Therefore, GPRE and others have now taken on the role of product developers as well. Becker said they are currently developing markets to utilize the algae biomass as animal feed, as an ingredient for the pharmaceutical industry and for renewable fuels production. This includes biodiesel and ethanol. He noted that testing is currently under way to determine the viability of sending the algae directly to refineries to produce biofuel and they are also receiving promising results on tests to produce ethanol from the algae.

HT: Matt Largen

Well, it now does have one. Nissan on Sunday unveiled the Leaf NISMO RC, its answer to the "perception among some people that electric vehicles fall on the dull side of the automotive enthusiasm scale." Nissan officials say the vehicle, which can generate 107 horsepower and weighs 40 percent less than the road-ready Leaf, will serve as a development lab and may form the basis for a racing series — although the contests will definitely be sprint races.

In preliminary testing the NISMO RC produces 0 to 62 mph acceleration in 6.85 seconds and a top speed of 93 miles per hour.  It is projected to have a running time of around 20 minutes under racing conditions.

Inman Solar of Chattanooga, Tenn. was tapped to engineer and integrate the solar solution for Custom Packaging, which employed contractors from Nashville, Chattanooga, Murfreesboro, and Manchester to complete the project. In total, more than 25 people were involved with completing the project that was funded in part by federal and state grant dollars. In addition to the grants, the power generated will be sold to Middle Tennessee EMC at a premium rate through Tennessee Valley Authority’s Green Partners program.

The fundraising effort is scheduled to close March 31, but may be extended through June 30. A minimum $5 million must be raised to close and the standard is $250,000 investments, with individual units priced at $50,000. No investment has yet been solicited, but the offering will soon be on the streets. Said Davis, "We do believe that there are strategic investors in the entity category [who are prepared to] make substantial investments in the fund. We also think that there are individuals familiar with the Biofuels Initiative that are interested in investing."