GE Capital, NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips have jointly committed US$300 million in capital for a new joint venture: Energy Technology Ventures. The JV will fund around 30 venture-and growth-stage companies over the next four years, including the next generation photovoltaics developer Alta Devices. Although details about financial details of the JV and the initial investments have not been disclosed, the JV will focus early investments in companies developing “game-changing” technologies.
This being NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips' first corporate venture investment, the companies, along with GE, look forward to Energy Technology Ventures investing in, and offering, commercial partnership prospects for companies in renewable power generation, smart grid, energy efficiency, oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear energy, emission controls, and water and biofuel technologies chiefly located in North America, Europe and Israel.
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“Together with GE and ConocoPhillips, we can make a tremendous impact nurturing the most promising clean energy technologies our nation needs to excel in the 21st century green economy and commercialize them in a meaningful way,” said Clint Freeland, NRG Energy’s senior vice president, financial structure. “America’s greatest competitive advantage will always be our people’s ability to innovate, and with only moderate capital investments, we will unlock this innovation. Beyond investment, we hope to assist in the commercial deployment at scale of the energy technologies developed by these entrepreneurial companies.”
Joining Alta Devices, which aims to progress the production economics of advanced materials for high-efficiency, low-cost solar energy, the JV’s initial investments will be with Ciris Energy and CoolPlanetBioFuels.
