Clean-tech investing got creamed in the first quarter just like the rest of the economy, dropping to $277 million from $571 million in the first quarter of 2008, according to Ernst & Young�s latest report.
Waiting for a rainmaker (AP)
Continuing a trend that began last year, investment is increasingly flowing toward technologies that boost energy efficiency or energy storage, a less capital-intensive option for many VCs. Energy storage was the big winner in the first quarter, more than doubling to $114 million from $50 million one year ago.
A big part of that was a single deal: The $69 million raised by battery maker A123 Systems. But Ernst & Young notes fresh interest in fuel cells, which took in $45 million in the first quarter compared with zero one year ago.
Electricity generation was largely shunned, taking in just $56 million, and almost all of that was concentrated in solar power. A single deal, NRG Energy and Acme�s $40 million investment in solar-thermal company eSolar, accounted for most of that money.
So what�s the outlook? Just like more mature corners of the clean-energy industry�just like all industries, come to think of it–clean tech is hunkered down and waiting for Washington to prime the pump.
�While the timing of the receipt of government funding is uncertain, we expect that loan guarantees and other government financing structures, as well as corporate adoption rates of clean technologies, will be early indicators of an upward investment cycle,� said Joseph A. Muscat, Ernst & Young�s Americas Director of Cleantech.
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