SOLAR VENTURE INVESTING UP

Solar Venture Capital Funding Off To Strong Start In First Quarter
12 April 2011 (Solar Industry)

"Venture capital (VC) funding in the solar sector posted positive results for the first quarter of 2011 (Q1'11), coming in at $658 million in 25 deals - compared to $238 million in the previous quarter and $311 million in the first quarter of last year."

"According to a report from Mercom Capital Group LLC, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, the trend was similar in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) space, with activity amounting to $1.4 billion in 18 transactions for Q1'11, compared to $266 million in the fourth quarter of 2010 (Q4'10) and $909 million in the first quarter of (Q1'10). Debt and other types of funding activities came in at $9.7 billion in Q1'11 with 15 deals…"

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"The top five funding deals made up for almost 70% of the total funding in this quarter, led by a $201 million Series E raise by BrightSource Energy…Thin-film companies attracted the most funding, with $283 million raised in seven deals…Copper indium gallium selenide was the most popular technology within thin films, accounting for $196 million in four deals. Concentrating solar power companies raised $212 million in three deals, followed by $84 million raised by solar downstream companies in six deals."

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"There were 55 different VC investors that participated in 24 disclosed deals, according to Mercom Capital…In continuing with last year's trend, VC arms of companies remained active in the solar sector…Among countries, the U.S. was dominant in VC funding, accounting for 87% of all VC funding in the first quarter; 89% of all VC funds raised by solar companies in 2010 were also from the U.S.

"Out of $9.8 billion announced in debt and other funding, $7.6 billion came in from the Bank of China for Jinko Solar. This is a continuing trend from the last year, when Chinese government banks provided a total of approximately $34 billion in credit to Chinese solar manufacturers…There was $2.1 billion in non-Chinese debt transactions, showing significant improvement in the credit markets in Q1'11…"