The dollars continue to flow into the renewable energy sector, in investments of all types and in government funding. Financial activity in renewables is strong and trending upward, despite questions of uncertain subsidies and rapidly changing costs. In the third quarter of this year, total corporate funding in the wind energy industry totaled $2.4 billion, according to consulting firm Mercom Capital Group. That funding includes venture capital, public market financing, and debt financing. In a VC deal, Goldman Sachs Group invested $140 million in ReNew Power Ventures. Large-scale project funding added up to $3 billion. Two M and A transactions were completed, for $81 million, and project acquisitions totaled $5.3 billion. And there were two IPOs in the third quarter, for $111 million.
The list of the many companies, funds, and countries involved was equally impressive. Deals were done by, among others, the Asia Development Bank, Polish Energy Partners, the Chinese private-equity fund CEE Equity Partners, and the Greece-based ELTECH ANEMOS. Countries involved included the U.K., Norway, Denmark, Germany, Ghana, and Poland. On the home front, and in the solar power field, the U.S. Department of Energy is investing $53 million in 40 research and development projects to lower the cost of solar energy. The driver here is to support several areas of technology development to bring innovative ideas to market more quickly. It looks like investors are placing big bets on renewable energy as a boom industry that promises equally big payoffs.
Article by John Howell, appearing courtesy 3BL Media.
