Global VC funding in wind projects rises 44% to $455 mn in 2013

Indian project ReNew Power is the highest raiser with $135 mn funding

Investments by venture capitals (VC) in wind energy projects rose sharply to $455 million globally in the year ending December 2013, compared with $315 million funding in 2012.

The top VC funded company in 2013 was ReNew Power, an Indian wind project developer, which raised $135 million, followed by Irish firm Mainstream Renewable Power, which raised $133 million, said Mercom Capital Group, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm in its report.

Other notable deals were made by NSL Renewable Power, also a developer from India with $60 million funding and by Ogin, a manufacturer of small wind turbines in the United States, which raised $55 million. Green Infra, an Indian renewable power producer raised $25 million, according to the report.

During 2013, total funding into the wind sector reached $28.1 billion which includes VC funding, public market financings, debt financings and project funding deals announced in the year.

While announced large-scale project funding in 2013 amounted to $18.1 billion , up from $14 billion in the previous year, public market financings accounted for $5.8 billion including six IPOs totaling $2.3 billion. Debt financing totaled $3.8 billion during the year, compared with $12.5 billion in 2012.

“The most active project funding investors were KfW IPEX-Bank with nine deals, followed by the European Investment Bank with seven deals, and Nord/LB with six deals,” said Mercom Capital in its report.  

The October-December quarter of 2013 was a very active period for large-scale project development activity around the world, said the report of Mercom, which tracked about 104 project announcements totaling almost 10.7 GW in various stages of development.

“Announced large-scale project funding in Oct-Dec 2013 was $4.9 billion compared with $3.9 billion funding seen in July-September period of 2013,” it said.

However, in the same period, VC funding was lower at $93 million in six deals compared to $135 million in four deals in the previous quarter.