Venture capital investments grabbed several headlines this week.
Following a trend that developed in the second quarter, two companies
in the smart grid sector received cash infusions.
California-based eMeter Corporation closed a $32 million financing round
led by Sequoia Capital. The company develops software for
smart meters and claims to have more than 24 million meters under
contract with utilities worldwide. In February, Houston-based utility CenterPoint Energy
(NYSE: CNP) selected eMeter to support the roll-out of two million
smart meters in Texas, and previous investors in the company include
the venture capital arm of Siemens Corporation (NYSE:SI).
Another California company, iControl Networks completed a
$23 million Series C investment round, bringing its total venture capital funding to more than $45 million. The company makes
wireless broadband systems for home security and energy management. This latest funding includes investments from Tyco International’s (NYSE: TYC)
ADT Security Services, Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) and cable giant Comcast
(Nasdaq: CMCSA). These investors suggest that home energy management
may soon be paired with other home-based services. iControl’s systems
allow users to monitor their homes-including security and energy
systems-via the
Internet or mobile devices.
Residential solar company SunRun closed a Series B round of funding
for
$18 million led by Accel Partners. Accel is also an investor in the
popular social-networking
site Facebook, and it is expected that they will assist SunRun in
online marketing efforts. SunRun is based in San Francisco, but
expanded its solar-as-a-service business to Massachusetts and Arizona
in early 2009. The company provides residential solar systems with
start-up costs as low as $1,000. SunRun owns the systems and customers
pay a set price for the electricity produced. U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) committed in November of last year to provide financing for up to $105 million worth of SunRun projects.
Suniva Inc. announced the completion of a $75 million Series C financing round, led by Warburg Pincus.
The Atlanta, Georgia-based solar firm began production on its first
manufacturing line in October 2008 and intends to use the new funding
to install a second line that will increase annual capacity to just
under 100 megawatts (MW).
In other solar news, EDF Energies Nouvelles (EEN.PA) and First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR)
announced a venture to build France’s largest solar panel
manufacturing plant
at a cost of roughly EUR 90 million. The plant will produce solar
panels made with First Solar’s thin-film technology. It is planned to
have an initial
capacity of more than 100 MW and is expected to reach full
production by the second half of 2011.
EDF has agreed to finance half of the capital
expense in return for access to the plant’s
entire output for the first 10 years.
A Berkshire Hathaway company (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B) has entered the solar market. Johns Manville
(JM), a leading manufacturer of building products, has signed a deal to
manufacture and market building integrated photovoltaic products, using
thin film solar laminates made by Energy Conversion Devices, Inc.
(NASDAQ: ENER) (ECD). Johns Manville has created a new business entity,
called the JM E3 Company (E3Co), to market the new products.
New Jersey-based utility PSE&G (NYSE: PEG) received regulatory
approval to invest $515 million collected from ratepayers into 80
megawatts (MW) of solar projects.
The program, called Solar 4 All, has two segments, one that will
install small solar units on 200,000
utility poles and one that will develop solar gardens and roof-top
installations. If completed, the program will double New Jersey’s
installed solar capacity.
Canada’s Magma Energy Corp. (TSX: MXY) signed an agreement to acquire a minority interest in HS Orka,
a geothermal
company in Iceland. Magma, which completed it’s initial public offering
this month, will spend roughly $25 million for a stake in the company,
which is currently owned by Iceland’s Geysir Green Energy.
Because of Iceland’s vast geothermal power supply, the country is
quickly becoming a center for energy-intensive aluminum production. HS
Orka supplies power to one large aluminum smelter and has a contract to
supply a second facility under construction.
Royal Philips Electronics (AEX: PHI, NYSE: PHG) acquired Teletrol
Systems Inc.,
a company developing control systems for lighting
and energy usage. The company was owned by the well-known inventor Dean
Kamen, who is best known for inventing those funky two-wheeled Segway
scooters. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Teletrol
is the latest acquisition by Philips, which has spent $5.4
billion buying lighting and energy-related companies over the last four
years.
Santa Fe, New Mexico-based Jetstream Wind announced plans to build what
it says will be the world’s first utility-scale, zero-emissions
hydrogen power plant. As planned, the plant will use electricity generated from solar, wind and
geothermal power to separate water into oxygen and hydrogen. The
hydrogen will then be burned, as needed, in a 10-megawatts (MW) turbine.
The
company says this process
of converting renewable power into hydrogen will alleviate the
intermittency issues associated with solar and wind
power. According to the company’s website, Jetstream envisions hydrogen
power as a replacement for power plants burning natural gas, and the
company has plans for two more plants in New Mexico and one in Hawaii.
Permitting has not been completed yet, but the company expects
construction to take about 14 months. Jetstream said the $220 million
cost will be financed by
private investors.
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