Solar Powers $1.1 Billion Investment in Cleantech in Q2 2011
US VC 44% decline from record invested in Q2 2010; privateand corporate investments continue to propel US cleantech
market
BOSTON,
venture capital (VC) investment in cleantech companies decreased by
44% to $1.1 billion in Q2 2011
compared to Q2 2010, while deals fell 12% to 68, according to an
Ernst & Young LLP analysis based on data from Dow Jones
VentureSource.
The decline in cleantech investment in Q2 2011 comes in
comparison to the $1.9 billion
invested in Q2 2010 - the highest level of quarterly VC investment
on record, in which the top five deals amounted to
consecutive quarter basis, dollars invested in Q2 2011 were 8%
greater than the amount in Q1 2011.
“Cleantech financing levels remain
strong in the context of investment levels over the past several
quarters.
“Cleantech financing levels remain strong in the context of
investment levels over the past several quarters. We’re
seeing continued commitments to solar, electric vehicles and energy
efficiency technologies from the venture community, as well large
corporate and private investors,” said Jay
Spencer, Ernst & Young LLP’s Americas Cleantech
Director.
Energy/Electricity Generation segment leads with
solar
The Energy / Electricity Generation segment continues to
dominate cleantech investment. The segment raised
total of $686.9 million through the
first half of 2011 - just shy of the $700.6
million raised through the first half of 2010. Solar
companies continue to draw the greatest support in this segment
with $234.2 million, representing 21%
of the overall investment in Q2 2011.
Cleantech companies in the Industry Products and Services
segment raised the second largest amount in Q2 2011:
the record amount of $655.3 million
that was raised by this segment in Q2 2010, of which
Place.
BrightSource Energy, which
designs, develops and sells solar thermal power systems, secured
the largest deal of the quarter with $168
million.
The Transportation sub-segment investments were led by Fisker
Automotive Inc., which accounted for 37.6% of dollars raised in
this segment with a $115 million
deal. Additionally, the Materials sub-segment raised
$26 million raised in Q2 2010. One of
the larger transactions in that segment was a
renewable chemistry company based in
In Q2 2011, the Energy Efficiency segment ranked third with
respect to total amount raised, with $183.7
million, a 3% decrease from the
the segment had 20 deals, the largest number of deals for the
quarter. The largest deal in this segment was completed by Hara
Software, a Northern California a
provider of environmental impact measurement software that raised
$25 million.
Companies in the Energy Storage market attracted
Q2 2010. This is largely attributed to the
Compression Inc. Additionally, the Alternative Fuels segment raised
$126.1 million in Q2 2011,
biofuel deals.
While this was a 57% decrease from the total raised in Q2 2010,
the segment garnered the third largest VC deal of the quarter - a
$55 million deal by Kior, a provider
of hydrocarbon-based oil, based in
June 2011.
Later stage, revenue generating companies maintain
the lead
Cleantech companies in the revenue generation stage of
development drew the greatest amount of VC investment in Q2 2011
with $865.2 million, 79% of total
dollars invested during the quarter. This is an 8% increase from
investments in Q2 2010.
Later stage companies also dominated the Q2 2011 VC investments,
accounting for 67% of the quarterly total. Through the first half
of 2011, $1.44 billion has been
raised by revenue generating companies and
companies.
Regional highlights
In Q2 2011, California garnered
51% of dollars raised with $548.8
million. However, the state faced a decline compared to the
amount it raised one year ago, primarily due to five large deals
that involved California-based
companies in Q2 2010. Northern
California alone dropped 63% in terms of dollars raised from
Q2 2010. However, the Mountain region experienced a strong quarter
with $114.7 million, a 167% increase
in dollars raised from Q2 2010. The North East followed with
Government, private and corporate
funding
New initiatives and funding continue to take shape from
government, private and other corporate sources. In mid-June, the
US Department of Energy announced loans and guarantees or offered
conditional loan guarantees totaling more than
projects, including more than $10
billion in loan guarantees for solar projects.
First Solar secured $4.5 billion
in loan guarantees, NextEra Energy Resources LLC secured
energy unit received $1.2 billion -
all for projects in
On the private investor side, a group of
11 wealthy US families formed, The Cleantech Syndicate, an
investment fund to support renewable energy and power-efficiency
companies at all stages of development. The families intend to
invest up to $1.4 billion over five
years, according Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Corporate activity was notable in two areas: solar and electric
vehicles. In the solar market, Google announced a partnership with
SolarCity to create a $280 million
fund to provide solar panel leases and power purchase agreements to
households - making it the largest residential solar financing
scheme to date.
Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Prologis, and NRG Energy are
jointly financing the installation of $2.6
billion of commercial and industrial rooftop solar arrays -
the largest distributed solar deal in history. Additionally,
GE announced a $600 million
investment to manufacture solar panels in a factory slated to be
the largest in the US.
In terms of electric vehicles (EV), several initiatives focused
on EV charging infrastructure. The US’ National Renewable
Energy Laboratory (NREL) is working with Google, Coulomb
Technologies, Pacific Gas and Electric, Tom
Tom and Best Buy to provide up-to-date information on the
locations of EV charging stations. GE Energy Industrial Solutions
and Lowes will partner to offer Level 2 GE WattStation Wall Mount
EV Charging Stations.
Capital market activity
Two cleantech companies completed IPOs in Q2 2011. Kior
Inc, a Texas-based renewable fuels
technology developer, raised $150
million and Solazyme Inc, a San
Francisco-based company that develops renewable oil and
bio-products, raised $ 198 million.
In addition, multiple cleantech companies have filed for an
IPO in the second quarter of 2011.
In terms of other capital market activity, there were 9
cleantech mergers and acquisitions with a disclosed value of
Herold. The largest of these was the acquisition by Total SA of a
60% stake in SunPower Corp, US-based manufacturer of
monocrystalline silicon cells, modules, system trackers, and
equipment to monitor solar systems, for $2.0
billion.
Source: media.prnewswire.com
