Although there was a mild rebound in cleantech venture capital investments in the second quarter of 2009, reaching US$1.2 billion in 85 deals, compared to US$836 million in 59 deals in the previous quarter, the latest quarterly report from Greentech Media shows that VC funding in the solar sector has declined for the fourth successive quarter in a row. VC investment in solar was US$333.4 million in 17 deals, down from US$836.1 million invested in Q109 from 14 separate deals, approximately a 60% fall in funding.
SPG Holdings has closed a $13 million equity financing through the Global Environment Fund and Robeco. SPG Holdings includes systems integrator SPG Solar and solar product designer/manufacturer Thompson Technologies Industries.
One of Trina Solar's key photovoltaic module glass suppliers, Beijing Hua Mei Dazheng Technology, has signed an investment agreement to site a production facility in the Changzhou Trina Photovoltaic Industrial Park. The deal was signed with the Changzhou National High Tech District to build a glass factory adjacent to Trina Solar's manufacturing campus.
Fraunhofer Gesellschaft has signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company – representing the Masdar City Project – that aims to embark on a collaborative deal to establish renewable energy projects for the region. Masdar City will be located on an area of six square kilometres approximately 30 kilometres east of Abu Dhabi, and is being designed to be a carbon-neutral city, powered entirely by renewable energy sources.
Bolstering its finances ahead of a major technology transition, Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. has secured a convertible loan agreement worth $50 million with IFC, a member of the World Bank Group. Suntech has earmarked the funds for debt refinancing and to support the company’s transition to the Pluto technology approach, which is based on the PERL (passivated emitter with rear locally diffused) cell technology and has demonstrated world-record lab efficiencies of 25%.
Semilab, one of the world's largest metrology companies, has named Dr. Chris Moore as President and CEO of Semilab USA. This decision gives Moore responsibility for strategic direction and operations of all Semilab divisions within the US.
A new program has been established by the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar to overcome the often lengthy (more than two years) and not always successful applications to use public land in desert regions, which include Nevada, Arizona, and parts of California. Key aspects of the program include ‘prime zones,’ new permitting offices to speed up permitting and the funding of environmental studies in the designated areas.
Building on his experience in the equipment sales industry, Robin Bancroft, a former European agent for Baccini, has joined DEK Solar as Alternative Energies Business Development Manager for Western Europe. Mr. Bancroft brings several years of sales and management experience to the company, and will be shouldered with the responsibility of managing market development of DEK’s solar metallization lines.
SunPower and Wells Fargo have joined together in a new collaborative effort to fund as much as $100 million in SunPower commercial-scale solar photovoltaic systems. Under the financing program, the partners say that SunPower will sign power purchase agreements (PPAs) with qualified customers, and the bank will finance the PV systems, which will be designed, built, operated, and maintained by the solar company.
Mercury Solar Systems, a leading solar integrator in the United States, has announced that it has acquired K-Star Solar, leading residential solar installer of Long Island.
