A Rebound in Cleantech Investments?

The first half of this year has been much slower regarding investments in clean technologies and renewable energy projects, $294 million in the US in Q1 2009, compared to $1,8Bn in Q3 2008. Recently however, investments are increasing, reaching $540 in Q2 '09. A clear sign that the economy is recovering.

The lower activity is not necessarily only a bad thing; vc funds making deeper assessments before committing themselves will make the capital influx into the clean tech sector hopefully reach those who most deserve it, healthy, profitable companies with a feasible expansion plans. This will decrease the risk for creating bubbles. Many good ventures will however suffer, especially if they have not yet reached the commercial stage.
Ideally, increasing cleantech investments will be done with the scrutiny and careful analysis applied during the worst decline.

More in the Mercury and, regarding the Swedish situation, here

Recovery through Infrastructure and Cleantech Investments

According to Cleantechies.com, infrastructure and alternative energy will be two areas which Obama's recovery plan will focus on.

There are signs of similiar strategies in other countries. If carried out, this may soften the fall of young cleantech companies even further.

Quote of the day

"Don't get the idea that I've turned green. My business is making money, and I think this is going to make a lot of money."

-- T. Boone Pickens in the Guardian

Takeover king & oil baron T-Boone is planning a $10bn, 4GW wind farm in Texas, which would be the world's largest. He still thinks that wind turbines are ugly. Despite the merits of wind power, I do understand that many find wind turbines as not appealing. It would be far less visually obtrusive to generate power from waste heat (which is possible with the Opcon Power box).

By the way, Boone's biography is entertaining and can be find at bargain prices.

Ann Arbor pioneer in using LED for street lighting

Ann Arbor, Michigan will be the first city in the United States, and to my knowledge, in the world, to only use 100% LED lights for their street lighting. In addition to saving US$100.000 per year in electricity costs, it is estimated that CO2 emissions will be reduced by the equivalent of taking 400 cars out of traffic. Lighting stands for more than 20% of all the power consumed in the United States.

LED lighting has been discussed earlier on this blog, here and here. LED lamps offer several advantages over traditional bulbs, as well as CFL low energy bulbs.

Kista Cleantech Venture Day

Another cleantech investment event is coming up, this time in Kista, Stockholm, 20th of November. At the event, which is co-organized by the city of Stockholm and the US Embassy, a group of Swedish Cleantech companies will be presented to US investors. Several of these companies have been mentioned earlier on this blog.

Read more about the event "Kista Cleantech Venture Day" here

The current state of the cleantech sector in Sweden

The state of cleantech investment in Sweden

A brief overview of some current events in the Swedish cleantech investment sector:

• Swedish public foundation Industrifonden ("The Industrial Fund"), has invested USD3 Million in Chromogenics.
  Although the first commercial applications include bike helmet visors, the technology is expected to be used in energy efficient windows.I have earlier mentioned Chromogenics here and here.
  

• The Swedish Energy Agency, Energimyndigheten, recently published their (in Swedish) overview of the Swedish cleantech sectors, with focus on the investment development. THe report can be found here (in Swedish).
  
  
• How can cleantech companies and venture capitalists and other types of investors meet in a beneficial manner? That question was studied by Maria Tunberg from Cranfield University/Swedish Agricultural University. According to the study, TAG could be the answer. TAG stands for TechnologyApproval Group, and is a model that has been working with reasonable success is Great Britain. The TAG models focuses on uniting three different parts of the cleantech market: technology providers and developers looking for capital, possible clients and VC companies. A committee, with representatives from industry and possible, evaluates the market potential of different cleantech companies. In that way, cleantech providers can adapt their products and services according to the needs of the market, and find possible clients. Investors can take part of the results, and be sure to put their money in technology companies and innovators that are sure to have clients and a market potential.
  
  
• Criticism has been forwarded regarding the interest (and hype) about cleantech in Sweden. According to Anders Ocklind from the Swedish fuel cell company Cellkraft, companies that have been hyped recently, especially those picked by Michael Wood. It should be noted however, that this criticism comes from a competitor to the chosen companies. The criticism seems to be focused on the technologies themselves. As earlier stated in this blog, it is true that specific companies and products may be overvalued, and thus failed investments. But that does not necessarily only depend upon technology characteristics. It should be remembered that although the technology is the primary component of the investment opportunity, it is not the only one. Revolutionary application or innovative marketing of a mature technology can give a strategic advantage. Besides, it is a natural consequence of selecting several assets for a conceptual portfolio that some assets will not develop as good as others. By diversifying the portfolio that is not necessarily a problem.
  

The Cleantech Investment List Is Growing

Michael Wood, the US ambassador in Sweden, has put cleantech investments on the top of the agenda. Recently, he added a few companies on his list of interesting Swedish cleantech companies:

• Ageratec
  
• Catator AB
  
• EcoHeater AB
  
• HB Transfer Stockholm
  
• Kockums AB
  
• Midsummer AB
  
• Nilar International AB
  
• Svensk Rökgasenergi AB
  
• Swedish Biogas International AB
  

Readers of this blog will remember that I have written about some of these companies earlier. And having followed Ageratec for some time, I am glad to see they get attention.

There are however more companies that potentially could be included. How about:

• Malmberg Water, water treatment and biogas upgrading
  
• Envac, automatic waste management systems
  
• Hotab, biomass combustion plants
  
• Ecoera, advanced agro-pellets technology
  
• Scandroots, biological waste treatment
  
• myFC, small fuel cells