At first blush that sounds plausible but given that I am contacted by many adtech startups, my feeling is that there is rapidly declining innovation and ambition in adtech. The last startup that I thought was ambitious and well run was MoPub. Taking on DFP and building an ad server  is ambitious.

Neumann listed 100+ adtech companies in Angellist that were founded in 2013. That sounds like a lot but looking at some of them I feel like their listing has more to do with Angelist’s growth than adtech’s growth. For example:

Advertrates is “a website where you can get advert rates of newspapers, magazines, tv stations, radio stations and so on in Nigeria.”

Citeads is a one person company with one follower on Angellist. He plans free classified ads for cities.

Adladl say they “Turn low value online display ads into high value search ads.” There are a bunch of other companies doing this.

Vorcu is an affiliate network for Latin America.

ZeeRabbit says it is “like AdWords for mobile user in-app activity that delivers instant targeted brand rewards.” It has raised seed funding.

Adsolut calls itself Admeld for Africa.

I haven’t looked at the entire list but I can’t find anything on here that is exciting. I understand why founders like this space. These types of adtech companies are easy to start and you can get some cash flow quickly, but it would be great to find a startup here that could be a game changer.

Investors will be happy to hear that module shipments will be between 750 megawatts (MW) to 780 MW, a healthy increase from the previous guidance of 650 MW to 680 MW.

Gross margins are also better than expected as Trina Solar is now offering a range of 14.5 percent to 15.5 percent, a marked improvement from the low double digits previously offered.

But these improvements will not automatically lead to higher profits as Trina Solar stated that net earnings will be impacted by an incremental accounts receivable provision of between $9.5 million and $10.5 million and a foreign currency exchange gain of $7.5 million to $8.5 million, net of change in fair value of derivative instruments.

Unsurprisingly, Trina Solar also stated that they would be revising its full-year shipment guidance of 2.3 gigwatts (GW) to 2.4 GW during their Q3 2013 conference call later this month.

Shares of Trina Solar were down 2.09 percent in afternoon trading while shares of First Solar were up 0.44 percent and SunPower shares were down 0.88 percent.

While terms of the deal were not disclosed, the all cash transaction becomes the seventh acquisition for SunPower.

The acquisition of the Davis, CA-based company makes a lot of sense for SunPower as the efficiency of solar panels lessens when they are dirty. Greenbotics’ robots use less than a half a cup of water to clean panels – making them more efficient than the traditional manned power washer method.

Cleaning solar panels via robots is not a unique business model as Richmond, CA-based Alion Energy while Menlo Park-based QBotix has developed robots to adjust the angle of solar panels to track the sun, ensuring the best angle for maximum efficiency.

SunPower believes that if its customers employ Greenbotics’ Clean Feet robots, they can improve the efficiency of their panels by up to 15 percent. For a 100 megawatt solar utility farm, that’s a lot of energy.

Shares of SunPower were up 11.11 percent in afternoon trading.

According to OwnEnergy, the project is in “shovel-ready status” meaning that NJR only needs to purchase six GE (GE :NYSE)1.62 MW wind turbines and have them installed to complete the project.

Developing a wind farm project to “shovel-ready status” is not an easy task, just ask the folks at Cape Wind.

Today’s deal has an incestuous side as NJR is OwnEnergy’s largest shareholder. But despite the close relationship and OwnEnergy’s history of developing community-scale wind projects, this is the first deal between the companies.

Previous inevestors Claremont Creek Ventures, RockPort Capital Partners, and Aster Capital also joined the round.

EcoFactor has developed cloud-based software that enables homeowners to program their thermostats via the Internet. But instead of just providing homeowners with an Internet accessible dial, EcoFactor’s software looks at a homeowner’s energy usage patterns, weather conditions, and demographics to automatically provide the correct thermostat settings.

Adding NRG Energy to its investor list is an interesting move considering EcoFactor is already working NV Energy (NVE :NYSE) and Comcast (CMCSA :NASDAQ) to offer its service.  Bringing in NRG Energy should provide EcoFactor with access to the company’s 2 million homes it services through Reliant, Green Mountain Energy Company and Energy Plus.

It will be interesting to see if NRG Energy, NV Energy, or Comcast eventually acquires EcoFactor as we would be awfully surprised if they were even allowed to sniff at an IPO.

Working with Admirals Bank in Boston, Canadian Solar’s residential customers will be able to borrow up to $40,000 for a solar installation, subject to credit approval.

Chinese solar manufacturers trying to a capture a share of the lucrative residential solar market in the U.S. is nothing new. Suntech Power Corporation (STP :NYSE) gave it a run, even building a production plant a few miles from local competitor First Solar’s (FSLR :NASDAQ) headquarters. But that hasn’t worked out well for Suntech as they shut the doors to the Goodyear, Arizona plant earlier this year.

But offering financing isn’t the only key to cracking the U.S. market. Solar City (SCTY :NASDAQ) success can be attributed in part to a strategic marketing program that demystifies the solar investment while making it look attractive to the average homeowner. Until Canadian Solar displays the marketing chops to compete with current competitors while offering competitive prices despite the high tariffs, Solar City investors will probably continue to sleep well at night.

Shares of Canadian Solar were down 2.35 percent today while shares of Solar City were up 2.02 percent.

JinkoSolar’s 20 MW is part of a 60 MW phase of a much larger project. The overall project will feature 500 MW of wind power, 100 MW of solar power, and a 110 MW power storage system. The overall project is supposed to serve as a platform for scientific research and a model for renewable energy projects.

JinkoSolar has to feel pretty good about being selected by the State Grid Corporation of China. They must believe the solar manufacturer, unlike some of its domestic competition, will be around to deliver the solar modules in Q4 2013.

Shares of the high flying JinkoSolar were down .22 percent in afternoon trading.

The Moapa project is unique as it is the first large-scale solar project to be built on tribal land in North America. The 2,000-acre project is expected to start construction in Q4 2013 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2015. The solar project will be located on the Moapa River Indian Reservation in Clark County, Northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Acquiring the project is a solid victory for First Solar and not just because of its size. By developing the first large-scale solar project on tribal land in North America, this deal potentially opens the door for similar ones in the United States.

As of the April 2000 census, the Moapa River Indian Reservation didn’t crack the top 50 largest Indian reservations by land holdings. The Navajo Reservation topped the list with over 24,000 square miles of land in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah followed by the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation with almost 7,000 square miles in Utah and the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation with almost 4,500 square miles in Arizona. All of these Indian reservations have the location, and potential, to develop large-scale solar projects.

Despite the large project acquisition, shares of First Solar were only up .42 percent in afternoon trading.

The 30 megawatts of power seized accounts for 21 percent of the fund company’s power generation capabilities.

The Court of Brindisi seized the plants due to improper operation of the solar plants related to authorization issues for the solar parks and matters related to the improper collection of feed-in tariffs.

Suntech said they will try to work with GSF to continue operating the solar plants.

With Suntech hoping a newly appointed CEO and a credit restructuring plan will help the resuscitate the solar manufacturer from its previous investment missteps, another setback like this will not help renew investor confidence in the company.

Shares of Suntech were surprisingly unchanged in afternoon trading.

FuzeBox is seeking to distinguish itself in the increasingly crowded field of communication and collaboration solutions. To help FuzeBox compete with the likes of Cisco (CSCO :NASDAQ) and Citrix (CTXS :NASDAQ), the company also announced they have hired Yammer’s former Chief Customer Officer and Salesforce.com (CRM :NYSE) executive, David Obrand as CEO.

Mr. Obrand is bringing a team with him as former Yammer executives Mary Pecka, Greg Ell, and Jonathan Grant will join the team. Ms. Pecka will assume the role as Chief Customer Officer, Mr. Ell will be the Vice President and General Manager, EMEA, and Mr. Grant will be the Vice President of Finance.

While Mr. Ell will be busy growing the company’s presence in Europe, Ms. Pecka will be active domestically as the company announced they will be offering a freemium service to expand its customer base. Both Yammer and Saleforce.com have successfully implemented the freemium strategy.

FuzeBox may not have the robust platform to compete with Citrix or Cisco’s varied product offering, but they do have the ability to be used on multiple devices including the iPhone, Android phones, and the latest iPad.

Over the next year it will be interesting to see if Mr. Obrand has more to offer from his background besides his experience with freemium services or is he truly a one-trick CEO. Can he position FuzeBox to successfully compete with the heavyweights or will the company be acquired like Yammer?

Investors in Cisco and Citrix weren’t phased by today’s announcement as shares of both companies were up .27 percent and .55 percent, respectively, in afternoon trading.