Venture Capital Sees Green
Cleantech still attractive
U.S. investors continued to pour billions into cleantech investments in the third quarter. Haven’t they been reading the Solyndra headlines?
Apparently, they have, so the bankruptcy of one company has been put in context by investors, according to the numbers cited in a report by Ernst & Young.
U.S. venture capital (VC) investment in cleantech companies increased by 73 percent to $1.1 billion in the third quarter of 2011, compared to the year ago period. Deals also increased by 36 percent to 76, according to an Ernst & Young LLP analysis based on data from Dow Jones VentureSource.
And despite the choppy economic climate, VC investment grew slightly over the spring quarter, if only by 4 percent.
"Confidence in cleantech investing continues despite the challenging investment market. We saw significant commitments in energy storage, which reflects a growing corporate focus on proactively managing their energy mix," said Jay Spencer, Ernst & Young LLP's Americas Cleantech Director.
Energy storage was the big winner of late, snagging $421 million during the quarter and raising its 2011 total to $865.2 million. Fuel cells led this segment with $225.5 million, representing nearly 54 percent of the overall investment in the segment. Bloom Energy was the leader, raising $150 million.
But the sector has not survived unscathed. Flywheel storage company Beacon Power, which received a $43 million federal loan guarantee under the same program that benefitted Solyndra, just declared bankruptcy.
Solar again led the generation side, with $255.1 million, a 2 percent decrease from a year ago.
California continues to lead national cleantech investment in 2011 with $1.7 billion raised to date. California accounted for 52 percent of all dollars with $583 million, a 74 percent increase from last year.
"The renewable energy capacity additions and corporate commitments demonstrate that cleantech has reached its deployment phase," Spencer added.
The U.S. recorded 44 new–build clean energy asset financings with a disclosed value of $6.8 billion, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
The U.S. solar energy sector attracted the majority of all new-build asset financing raising $5 billion, through 20 deals. Within the solar energy sector, NRG Energy secured the largest transaction with a $1.2 billion loan guarantee from the Department of Energy and $350 million in equity for the development of the 250 megawatt High Plains Ranch II and III PV plants, forming the California Valley Solar Ranch.
Corporate activity included several new long-term commitments. NextEra Energy Inc., the largest US wind-energy producer, plans to spend as much as $5.8 billion in the next three years to build wind and solar projects.
These are hardly the signs of an industry ready to implode.
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