Cleantech Investment At Record Level  

Forbes reports that Cleantech investment has hit another record, as yet untouched by the economic downturn - Cleantech investment hits record $1.6B in 3Q.

A record level of venture capital is pouring into cleantech despite a global economic downtown and credit crunch that's hitting more established players in the industry. U.S. venture capital investment in cleantech climbed to a record $1.6 billion in the third quarter of 2008, a 55-percent jump from the $979.3 million spent during the third quarter of 2007, according to an Ernst & Young report released Thursday.

The firm's research, based on data from Dow Jones VentureSource, shows seven of the top 10 venture capital deals in the solar industry, which recently hit the governmental jackpot when President Bush approved an eight-year extension of investment tax credits.

Investors pumped $990 million into solar during the quarter, bringing the year's running total to $1.7 billion with three months of data left to include.

One of the quarter's top deals went to Santa Monica, Calif.-based SolarReserve Inc., which will use $140 million in second-round financing on utility-scale solar thermal power plants.

SolarReserve's plants capture the sun's thermal energy, store it in molten salt and transform the heat into steam-driven turbines that generate electricity. The company said the funding will allow it to develop more than 5,000 megawatts of plants in locations across the globe, with each ranging in size from 50 megawatts to 300 megawatts.

The alternative energy legislation, which was wrapped into the government's $700 billion financial bailout package, also gave one-year extensions for wind, geothermal, biomass and other renewable energy projects.

Investments in energy efficiency totaled $186 million during the quarter, with GridPoint Inc. leading the way. The Arlington, Va.-based company raised $120 million in fourth-round financing for its smart grid platform, which helps such customers as Duke Energy and Xcel Energy control load, store energy and integrate renewable energy sources.