The Week in Cleantech: September 16-22
Cleantech celebrated the last week of the summer with a number of funding rounds and relationships sprinkled with a bit of bad news. Starting with the less than positive news, ECOtality, the California vendor of electric vehicle supply equipment, has filed for Chapter 11 protection and is seeking to auction off its assets.
On the sunny side, Veremiun, a California developer of high-performance enzymes for us in industrial processes, was acquired by BASF for €48 million (~$62 million). The move will help BASF take on DuPont and Novozymes in the industrial enzyme market. In another instance of a large corporate making waves in this space, Google has purchased the entire output of the 240 MW Happy Hereford wind farm from Chermac Energy. Google will purchase the energy, retire the renewable energy credits and then resell the power on the wholesale market. Another energy generation project inked this week was Pelamis Wave Power and Aquamarine Power working together to develop the largest tidal project in Europe.
On the funding front, eSolar led with the biggest round of the week, raising $22 million from Oak Investment Partners to aid eSolar’s expansion into the MENA region. Cool Planet Energy Systems, a California developed of technology to convert non-food cellulosic biomass into biofuels and biochemical, also raised $19.4 million from North Bridge Venture Partners, Shea Ventures, BP, Google Ventures, Energy Technology Ventures, General Electric, ConocoPhilips, NRG Energy, and Exelon Capital Partners. Fermentalg, a French developer and producer of mico-algae for the agrifood, healthcare and energy markets, raised $16 million from BPIFrance, Viveris Management, and IRDI. Sol Voltaics, a Swedish developer of nanotechnology focused on PV concentrator solar cells, raised $9.4 million from Umoe, Foundation Asset Management, Industrifonden, and Nano Future Invest.
To learn more about top companies in the sector we hope you’ll request an invitation for this year’s Global Cleantech 100 Gala & Summit | October 9-10, 2013 | Washington, DC. See you there!
