In California, Soliant Energy Inc. of Pasadena, formerly known as Practical Instruments Inc., has partnered with three installers of solar power systems: Energy Options of Tujunga, Permacity Corp. of Commerce and Advanced Solar Electric of Thousand Oaks. The companies now are authorized resellers and installers of Heliotube, Soliant Energy’s concentrating solar panel. Optimized for the rooftop, the panel absorbs and converts energy from the sun over a longer period of time than conventional solar panels.

In other news, the Pasadena-based company was awarded $4 million from the US Department of Energy’s Technology Pathway Partnerships program to speed the evolution of the Heliotube product platform. The award is part of the department’s $168 million Solar America Initiative, which aims to lower the costs of solar energy technologies. To meet its goals in the program, Soliant Energy has partnered with Spectrolab Inc. of Sylmar, Calif., SunEdison of Baltimore, Sandia National Laboratories of Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., and MIT’s department of engineering in Cambridge, Mass