In a cash-constrained world, this week’s acquisition of solar developer Ausra by Areva (the French government-backed maker of nuclear reactors) makes sense. We could see similar deals as small clean energy companies with big ideas and small balance sheets turn to large companies with stronger balance sheets.
Over the past decade, Areva, led by CEO Anne Lauvergeon, evolved from a secretive, tightly controlled government agency to a corporate-like entity. Areva’s alternative energy unit already manufactures wind turbines and is also involved in biomass generation, but the Ausra acquisition marks the company’s first solar investment.
For Ausra, its sale to Areva heralds the company’s return as a builder of large-scale solar power projects, an Areva spokesman told GER. Last year, Ausra CEO Robert Fishman announced that it would walk away from the utility-scale business because it was unable to secure financing. This was quite a reversal for a company that had left its native Australia for Northern California specifically to get into the power plant business. Now, Areva’s large balance sheet, which is backed by the French Government, will ensure that Ausra gets the financing it wasn’t able to secure just a year ago.
Newly launched, cleantech-focused investment bank Greentech Capital Advisors advised Ausra. Areva tapped Deutsche Bank as its advisor.
This week saw a couple of other notable acquisitions. Element Power, a Portland, Ore.-based wind developer bought a 1,400 megawatt project pipeline from EcoEnergy. SunPower bolstered its European presence with its acquisition of SunRay Renewable Energy, a solar power plant developer based on the tiny Mediterranean island of Malta. SunPower paid SunRay $277 million for its 1,200 megawatt project pipeline of photovoltaic projects in Italy, France, Israel, Spain, the United Kingdom and Greece.
A couple of weeks ago, we wrote about the record amount of wind power added by the U.S. This week, in a lengthy feature for the American University’s Investigative Reporting Workshop, investigative journalist Russ Choma tracked where the wind turbines that generated much of that new capacity came from. His conclusion? America’s green economy is being exported to cheaper locales. “Is the stimulus building a clean energy industry, or is it financing offshore industries…?” Choma asked as part of a follow up interview with GER. He concludes: “So far, most of the U.S. jobs created by the stimulus are short-term… the long-term, well-paid jobs are overseas.”
Needless to say the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the wind industry’s Washington representative, which has been very supportive of the Obama administration’s green-focused stimulus, was quick to refute Choma’s findings. In a blog post on their website, the AWEA said the story was “a fictional account,” and highlighted that “100 percent of stimulus dollars going to the wind industry have gone to wind projects constructed and operated in the United States.”
Overseas, Germany says it won’t implement the cuts in its solar feed-in tariffs until June, from an original launch date of April. Also, under this latest proposal, Germany’s conservative government would slash feed-in tariffs by 16 percent compared to the 15 percent that was previously discussed.
VC Alert
Ausra, backed by Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Beyers, KERN Partners, Generation Investment Management and Starfish Ventures, was bought by French nuclear reactor maker Areva for an undisclosed amount.
Hudson Clean Energy Partners-backed Element Power acquired a 1.4 gigawatts-project pipeline from Midwest wind developer EcoEnergy.
London-based Climate Change Capital raised £69 million ($108 million) for its Climate Change Property Fund (CCPF).
Solar power discounter One Block Off the Grid (1BOG) raised $5 million in Series A financing from New Enterprise Associates (NEA).
Los Angeles-based Craton Equity Partners made an $8 million investment in Propel Fuels, a retailer of alternative fuels for motor vehicles.
Infinia, a Kennewick, Wash.-based developer of solar power technology, that includes Paul Allen as an investor, announced that it seeks to raise $75 million of equity financing to scale production to go commercial by June of this year.
David Gelbaum, the discreet owner of cleantech-focused venture fund Quercus Trust, took over as CEO of portfolio company, Entech Solar, a Texas-based developer of concentrating solar modules.
Petra Solar raised $40 million to expand its utility pole mounted-smart grid and solar systems business. New investors included Craton Equity Partners and Espirito Santo Ventures.
Solar cell maker CaliSolar acquired its supplier 6N Silicon, based in Ontario for an undisclosed amount. It also raised $22.5 million from current investors. They include: Hudson Clean Energy, Advanced Technology Ventures and Globespan Capital Partners. 6N Silicon backers also pitched in. They are: Good Energies, Ventures West Management and Yaletown Venture Partners.
Rambling
This week, as part of our monthly Cornerstone Conversation, we talked to André-Jacques Auberton-Hervé the co-founder and CEO of Soitec, which is the world’s leading supplier of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers. Last December, the company purchased German concentrating photovoltaic company Concentrix Solar for €55 million. The strategic acquisition marked a milestone for the Grenoble, France-based Soitec, marking its entry into the renewable energy industry. The acquisition is an example of two technological worlds converging: semiconductor chips, which fueled much of the tech-boom of the past couple of decades and cleantech, which could fuel the next tech boom.