Sunpower (SPWR) surprises with profit on strength of EverQ unit

LOS ANGELES, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Solar power company Evergreen Solar Inc (ESLR.O: Quote, Profile, Research) on Wednesday reported an unexpected quarterly profit thanks to strength at its EverQ joint venture with Q-Cells AG (QCEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) and Renewable Energy Corp ASA (REC.OL: Quote, Profile, Research).

The company's shares rose 2.7 percent following the announcement.

Fourth-quarter net income was $788,000, or a penny per share, compared with a loss of $3.7 million, or 4 cents per share, a year ago.

Wall Street analysts, on average, had been expecting a net loss of 4 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Evergreen Solar is a maker of so-called thin-film solar products, which require less of the costly silicon that is traditionally used to make solar cells and panels. EverQ manufactures solar wafers, cells and panels using Evergreen's "String Ribbon" technology.

Revenue in the fourth quarter was $22.2 million, above Wall Street's average estimate of $20.2 million, according to Reuters Estimates. EverQ accounted for $5.3 million of the company's revenue. In the same period last year, Evergreen recorded revenue of $18.2 million.

For the first quarter, Evergreen forecast revenue of $21.5 million to $22 million, including $5 million of fees and royalty payments from EverQ.

Analysts are expecting revenue of $20.2 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

Full article continued at: SPWR Sunpower turns a profit

State of Emergency in South Africa over electricity shortages

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) - South Africa said it would ration electricity, increase prices and encourage the switch to solar, all part of emergency measures in the face of power outages causing chaos and misery across the country and threatening economic growth.

Neighbors like Botswana and Namibia, which rely heavily on South African energy
exports, have also been badly hit by the disruptions in the region's economic and political powerhouse. The outages have undermined confidence in South Africa, with news of incidents like the stranding of hundreds of people on tourism icon Table Mountain spreading around the world.

«The unprecedented unplanned power outages must now be treated as a national electricity emergency situation that has to be addressed with urgent, vigorous and coordinated actions,» Public Enterprise Minister Alec Erwin told journalists after a Cabinet meeting.

«We are viewing the next two years as being critical,» he said. In two years, South Africa will be hosting the World Cup finals, the premier international soccer event, expected to draw more than 300,000 visitors.

South African businesses have been crippled by the outages, which usually occur without warning. In an indication of the severity of the crisis, major mining companies including AngloGold, Harmony and Goldfields suspended work at some of their mines Friday for fear power cuts would trap workers underground.

Goldfields said it stopped all its South African operations, including in the world's biggest gold mine, which produce 7,000 ounces per day. The trade union Solidarity said nearly 30,000 miners on the morning shift were affected. The company said that Eskom had warned that the disruption could last up to four weeks.

The South African Tourism Services Association said earlier this week that the crisis jeopardized the World Cup.

«Stadia may have all the most wonderful generators in the world to broadcast the games, but will people come to SA to see them if they know they will be going back to hotels and guest houses with no power? That means no hot meals, no clean laundry, no lights. And for those who do come, will we be able to get then to the games on time?» said the tourism association's Michael Tatalias. Erwin said measures over the next two years would help ease pressure on supply ahead of the World Cup.

«There is no threat to the successful holding of the event as plans to ensure electricity supply in that period are well advanced,» he said.

The government and Eskom say that demand for electricity in the buoyant economy has simply grown too fast to cope and now needs to be cut by 10-15 percent. But _ for the first time _ the government acknowledged it should share in the blame by ignoring a 1998 Eskom report warning of a serious energy crisis within 10 years. The government only gave the go-ahead to a new power station building program in 2004.

«The president has accepted that this government got its timing wrong,» Erwin said.
But he said that the government was not considering freezing planned electricity-gobbling industrial projects, like a big new aluminum smelter, as had been suggested by Eskom.

Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said South Africa, which has until now relied heavily on its cheap and abundant coal for electricity, would put more effort into developing renewable energy.

The government was also considering emergency measures to compel South African mines to supply the state utility Eskom with more and better coal rather than exporting it.

Full article continues at: South Africa declares Electricity Emergency


Renewable Power and Solar Energy Stocks News:

Many solar stocks have traded 25% to 50% below their 52 week highs in recent days, and some would argue these represent bargains in renewable energy stock sector.

Bloomberg's David Wilson shares his views the decline in alternative energy stocks:

"Makers of solar-power equipment have followed the lead of ethanol producers, another segment of the alternative-energy industry, by going through a boom-and-bust cycle in stock markets worldwide.

The World Solar Energy Index, consisting of 10 of the industry's biggest members, has declined 37 percent this year after soaring almost 21-fold in the last four years. Renewable Energy Corp., the worst performer among the index's five most- heavily weighed components, has tumbled 48 percent.

Rising costs have contributed to the retreat. Renewable Energy, based in Hovik, Norway, said this month that research and development spending will climb fourfold through 2010. The company also wants to build three new solar-cell factories and add a plant for making polysilicon, a type of purified silicon used in cells.

The index peaked in December, about 18 months after a surge in ethanol makers ended. Pacific Ethanol Inc., for one, has lost 87 percent since setting an all-time high in May 2006."


MSN Moneycentral reports Piper Jaffray has upgraded Sunpower Corp (SPWR) to Buy from Neutral and raised their target to $105 from $94 on future earnings strength, saying shares of SPWR have lost most of its valuation premium relative to competitors. The firm says:

1) the ASP outlook is clearly better than they had anticipated a year ago

2) their thesis for SPWR poly supply risks have played out as anticipated with two disappointing quarters of module supply constraint. The firm says they have evidence that M. Setek is ramping on track and schedule for a substantial ramp after an upcoming plant closure for government inspection.


Martin Asset Management, of Tarzana, California, has announced it is launching the Ilios Alternative Energy Fund.

The Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE) is a great resource for alternative energy planning in the USA. DSIRE is a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and federal incentives that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.


The International Energy Agency has a program for renewable power testing called the Solar Heating and Cooling Programme. It was established in 1977, as one of the first programmes of the International Energy Agency. The Programme�s work is unique in that it is accomplished through the international collaborative effort of experts from Member countries and the European Commission.

Joseph Hargett asks: Is Solar Power Stock Bubble Looming for 2008?

article by Joseph Hargertt of Schaffers Research

We are about 2 full trading days away from the end of 2007, and technology stocks are looking for a strong finish, despite today's malaise sweeping the Street. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite (COMP) is set to easily outpace its Wall Street brethren on the year, resting at a gain of nearly 12% at last check, compared to the Dow's gain of 7.6% and the S&P 500 Index's (SPX) rise of 4.6%. Still, the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund ( XLK: View sentiment for XLKsentiment, chart, options) has bested even the mighty COMP on a year-to-date basis, adding a hefty 16.5% since January 2007.

Looking at a long-term trend for the XLK, some key levels to watch for 2008 emerge. First, support at the 26 level should remain rather important for the trust, as it is not only home to former support/resistance, bit it also houses the exchange-traded fund's (ETF) 10-month moving average - which the XLK has not closed a month below since July 2006. As long as the trust utilizes these regions for support and buoyancy, it should continue to advance well into 2008.

The second point of interest is the hard level of potential overhead resistance for the XLK at the round-number 30 level. When the trust last encountered this region in April 2001, the XLK was soundly rejected; however, economic and global issues were different at the time (think dot-com bubble). Still, this region could pose quite a problem for the trust, and it could take more than just the meandering higher that the XLK has done recently to top this level. On the other hand, a solid breach of the 30 region could definitely be a bullish indicator for the XLK in 2008.

Full article continued at: Joseph Hargett Tech Corner: Is a Solar Energy Bubble Looming for 2008?

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LDK to supply Q-Cells with polysilicon solar wafers in 10-year deal

NEW YORK — Solar energy product maker LDK Solar Co. said Monday December 10/07 it has entered a 10-year contract with Q-Cells AG, which will make prepayments to finance LDK's expansion.

LDK will deliver solar wafers with more than 6 gigawatts of annual generating capacity to Q-Cells from 2009 through 2018. LDK will use supplies from its polysilicon plant that is currently under construction, or other sources.

In return, Q-Cells will prepay 10 percent of the silicon value to fund LDK's expansion. The German solar-cell maker also has the option to purchase 30 percent of LDK's production if LDK expands its wafer capacity. The companies did not provide a specific sum of the prepayment.

A one-megawatt plant running continuously at full capacity can power 778 households each year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. One gigawatt is equal to 1,000 megawatts. Solar technology has lower capacity since its ability to generate power is constrained by availability of the sun.

Annual deliveries will start with 1,000 metric tons in 2009 and rise to 5,000 metric tons by 2013. Pricing of the wafers is partly fixed and partly market-related for 2009 and 2010. Pricing will then be adjusted to market conditions.

Q-Cells said the agreement will allow it to grow more rapidly from 2009 than previously planned.

article from:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5365047.html

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LSE-CWP: Clipper Windpower news and stock quote

Americans for Peace Now urges diplomatic efforts with Iran

article from:

http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_23643.shtml


Americans for Peace Now urged President Bush to open serious, determined and unconditional diplomacy with Iran. In a letter to the U.S. president Tuesday, the group's chair, Franklin Fisher, and president and CEO, Debra DeLee, said the recent publication of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran "bolsters our conviction that the best interests of both the U.S. and Israel require direct, sustained, and unconditional U.S.-led diplomacy and engagement with Iran to resolve issues surrounding Iran�s nuclear program."

The letter urged Bush to view the intelligence report "as an opportunity to shift course, and to demonstrate the kind of real leadership and diplomacy necessary to deal effectively and responsibly with the challenge posed today by Iran."

Copies of the letter will be sent to all members of Congress and major presidential candidates.

The letter reflects Americans for Peace Now's longstanding contention that a U.S. policy toward Iran consisting of sanctions and threats of force is insufficient and potentially harmful to the interests of both the United States and Israel.



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SustainableIndustries.com


Industry experts analyze the sea of solar investments

Solar tip sheetby Amy Westervelt - 11.2.07

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As the first cleantech sector to mature, the solar industry is entering a new phase filled with public stock offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and profitable businesses. However, analysts and industry players warn that solar still has some growing to do in order to bring prices in line with traditional energy resources (or “reach grid parity” in industry-speak) without the help of subsidies.
The solar industry has successfully commercialized residential, commercial and even utility scale products, making it attractive to venture investors looking for a safe bet as they arrive on the scene of the cleantech investment race.

For those eager to invest in solar in 2008, Sustainable Industries spoke with industry experts and analysts about what to watch for as solar hits its zenith.

Market trends
According to Tim Woodward, managing director of San Francisco-based Nth Power — one of the first venture firms to invest in solar more than 10 years ago — the public market for solar is now close to saturated. Solar companies began going public in a big way in 2005, most notably with the storied initial public offering (IPO) of SunPower (Nasdaq: SPWR), during which the company’s stock jumped 41 percent on the first day, prompting comparisons to dot-com IPOs. Solar companies have continued to go public with far less fanfare in the years and months since.

Solar companies looking to go public now need to be offering a unique product or service in order to differentiate themselves enough to pique investor interest, says Woodward. That wisdom goes for American venture-backed startups, as well as the large number of Chinese solar manufacturers gaining traction in the market. Meanwhile, the consolidation of the solar market, which analysts have been predicting for the last two years, finally began with SunPower’s acquisition of PowerLight in January 2007. The trend is likely to continue, with more solar mergers and acquisitions rumored for late 2007 and beyond.

Many mergers in 2006 were driven by a silicon shortage, as larger companies bought up small or struggling companies in order to secure access to more silicon. Now, consolidation is characterized by larger energy companies buying into the solar market, or by companies that are strong in one area of the value chain buying into another, as manufacturer SunPower did when it acquired installation and service provider PowerLight. Which is not to say the silicon shortage or its effects are over, despite reports to the contrary. “The biggest short-term problem for the solar industry remains silicon supply and pricing,” Woodward says, adding that, as more supply comes online, it is being consumed by the increasing demand for solar, which has resulted in costs not coming down as quickly as people thought they might.

Continental drift

The $75 million, 11-megawatt solar system in Serpa, Portugal, designed by SunPower, tracks the sun's movement across the sky. Courtesy SunPower Corp.

To the surprise of some West Coast residents, the majority of solar demand continues to be driven by the European market, where subsidy programs are lucrative and straightforward. In the United States — even in California, which has what Woodward calls a “fantastic” incentive program — customers and solar providers have to deal with large amounts of paperwork and headaches to cash in on credits.


In Europe the process has been streamlined, making solar far easier and more popular. Tom McCalmont, CEO of REgrid Power and president of Solar Tech, a Silicon Valley-based consortium of solar companies, says customers in California fill out 40-odd pages of forms and wait several months to redeem their credits for installing solar power — a stark contrast to Germany, where the form is a single page that is processed almost immediately. The European market is also attractive to American manufacturers, which can sell panels and installation services for euros, and favorably exchange the currency for U.S. dollars.


In the not-so-distant past, the combination of a favorable exchange rate and a booming market made Europe so attractive to solar exporters that the U.S. market was suffering from a supply shortage, according to Woodward. “Panels can be shipped to Europe easily, so you’ll ship to Europe until you fulfill that demand because you get a premium over there,” he says, adding that more suppliers and favorable policies in states such as California and New Jersey have helped ease the supply problem.

Nerds of a feather
The incentive programs in California, Washington, New Jersey and other states have been at least partially helped along by a variety of industry associations that have sprouted up as the solar industry matures. In Washington, D.C., the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) lobbies for national policies that are favorable to the solar industry; the Solar Alliance was recently formed in Boulder, Colo.; and in 2006 Silicon Valley-based companies, including SunPower (Nasdaq: SPWR), REgrid, Pacific Gas & Electric (NYSE: PGE), Miasolé and SolFocus, joined together to form Solar Tech and work toward establishing the Silicon Valley as the center of the U.S. solar industry.

All three groups work essentially toward the same goals: straightforward incentive programs, national net metering (it’s currently only legal for customers to sell excess power back to the local utility in 38 states) and federal interconnection legislation (connecting a solar installation to the grid can currently take up to several weeks). Solar Tech is also working on setting up training programs and installation standards to drive down the costs associated with installation, which industry experts agree is one of the primary areas where solar costs can and should be reduced.

Solar Tech founder McCalmont says his group and others in the industry are also lobbying Congress to eliminate a $2,000 cap on tax incentives for residential solar projects and to provide federal incentives to companies that manufacture solar panels in the United States. “The manufacturing process for solar is automated, so you don’t have to go with a Chinese manufacturing plant to save on labor costs,” McCalmont points out. “Companies manufacture elsewhere because other companies offer them incentives that the U.S. government does not provide.”
As has been the case with several policies in the current administration, a number of state legislatures, predominantly in the West (with the exception of New Jersey) have taken incentive issues into their own hands.

While federal incentives that can be universally applied and easily accessed by both individuals and businesses are the ultimate goal, state programs are helping to fill the void until such policies are put in place. California’s SB1 established a 10-year, $3.3 billion incentive program that, combined with the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS), sends a clear signal to investors that the solar market in California is here to stay. The policy helped to increase both venture capital investments in California solar startups and corporate and individual investments in solar systems.


Utility scale solar projects are a key piece of the industry's growth, fueling investments in system and component manufacturers.


Oregon’s Business Energy Tax Credit (BETC) and recently passed RPS have spurred solarindustry growth in the state and helped it to attract what is slated to be America’s largest solarmanufacturing plant, Germany-based SolarWorld’s planned 500-megawatt facility, to Hillsboro. SolarWorld executives cited BETC and Oregon’s skilled labor pool as primary incentives for locating its plant in the state [see “SolarWorld plant brightens Oregon,” SI, April 2007].

The state of Washington passed two solar incentive laws in 2005. Senate Bills 5101 and 5111 provide, respectively, a base credit of 15 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated from photovoltaic (PV) systems to residences and business, and a 40 percent reduction of the state’s business and occupation tax for manufacturers and wholesale marketers of solar PV modules or silicon components of those systems [see “Washington: the new Sunshine State?”, SI, February 2006].

Unlike incentive programs in California, New Jersey and Oregon, which pay based on system size, Washington’s utilities pay solar-energy-producing individuals and companies for the actual output from their systems. If a system under-performs or breaks down, the owner doesn’t get paid. The hope is that the law will promote careful installation have worked to retain existing Washington-based manufacturers and even to encourage some expansion: Moses Lake-based Renewable Energy Corporation broke ground on a new polysilicon plant in 2006, and Vancouver, B.C.-based Xantrex Technologies is considering expanding its Arlington, Wash., inverter plant. But to date, they have yet to attract new manufacturers to the state. In addition to state incentive programs, the Western Governors Association officially made increasing renewable energy production a goal for western states in 2006.

In 2007, the governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington set up a regional system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. Should state programs and Solar Tech’s efforts succeed in creating national incentives, there could be an increase in solar-manufacturing companies stateside.

But they will continue to encounter stiff competition, particularly from China, where solar manufacturing companies have succeeded in penetrating the global solar market over the past two years. “No one is pointing to Chinese manufacturing companies as cutting-edge innovators, but they are providing low-cost manufacturing,” Woodward says.

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India going green, from cities to temples

Watch Tower: Green temples

from www.centralchronicle.com

Devotees can press the priests and authorities that run the big temples to use solar energy by installing photovoltaic panels in the large temple premises- Tukoji R Pandit

Temples and other religious places are an inalienable part of the Indian life. The more famous ones are also rich; Andhra Pradesh's Tirupati Balaji temple is believed to be the world's richest, receiving offerings worth millions of rupees from devotees. Most of the money is undoubtedly well spent on charities. But perhaps time has come when the rich and the famous temples actively contributed to green causes. The Tirupati temple can take up that cause more ardently since it has made a 'green' beginning by modernising its giant kitchen that perhaps churns out more 'laddus' in a day than a large shop in a metropolis.

An area where the temples in India can really make a significant contribution to green causes is in their kitchen, most of which seem to be still using wood and charcoal for preparing 'prasad' for the devotees when they can easily switch over to LPG-or solar power.

The temple kitchen at Rameshwaram, another famous temple, where devotees throng in large numbers, is still burning wood to run its kitchen. It is surely not difficult for the temple to go for solar energy in a big way. May be, the Sun Temple in Orissa could lead the way in honour of its name.

In the UK, a number of churches in places as far apart as Northern Ireland and Wales have switched over to solar panels for their electricity needs. And Britain is not known to be a particularly 'sunny' place on earth while most parts of India are blessed by plenty of sunshine: at times just too much of it, as in the deserts of Rajasthan.

Just recently in the tiny island of Cypress, the Greek Orthodox Church has announced that it will invest $234 million in the promotion of solar energy, building a factory to manufacture photovoltaic panels that capture the sun energy.

In the case of Cypress the initiative by the church had a sense of urgency about it because this year's heat wave in that Mediterranean island had soared electricity demand beyond the limits of all the power stations in the tiny country. The Cypriots face prospects of power cuts in 2008 if more electricity cannot be produced.

The power cut threats will hardly stir anyone in India since it is already the norm here. But the devotees can press the priests and authorities that run the big temples to use solar energy by installing photovoltaic panels in the (usually) large temple premises. If the electricity produced is more than the requirement of the temple concerned it could be sold to the grid-or, better, transmitted to the poorer sections in the town.

South Korea is doing that, though the solar electricity does not come from any Buddhist temple. The country is making 'solar apartments' for low-income group people. The country is also using garbage to produce methane gas that, perhaps appropriately, powers the garbage trucks.

The potential of solar energy in India is tremendous. In 15 minutes India can have a year's energy supply from the sun equal to the annual production of its nuclear power stations and power houses using conventional fossil fuels. It is believed photovoltaic panels spread over a slightly large area, 60x60 sq km, can generate 100,000 mw of solar energy.

It has been estimated that the unutilised solar energy that India receives is equal to 500 trillion kwh per annum. Scientists say that if even one percent of the national land is utilised for solar energy India could produce nearly 1000 giga watts of electricity. What this means can be judged from the fact that the current consumption in the country is about 120 giga watts, which is likely to more than triple within the next 25 years.

A factor that has prevented India from realising the full potential of its solar energy is the large initial cost even after the subsidies that the government offers in certain cases. Experts however say that the costs have come down substantially since the 1970s when a sudden spurt in oil prices had jolted much of the world to look for alternative, non-conventional sources of energy. The problem is the 'mindset' and government policies, which are loaded in favour of the conventional sources.

The large savings in electricity bills offset the heavy initial costs. Since the solar energy means no greenhouse gas emission the tremendous environmental advantage can hardly be emphasised, particular now when not a day passes when scientists are not making dark forebodings about an impending disaster because of global warming.

The government does have a plan to encourage non-conventional sources of energy, which has become all the more necessary in view of the astronomical rise in the price of petroleum and the supply uncertainties because of continued tension in West Asia. The government has plans to add 14,000 mw of solar power in the 11th Plan.

Indian scientists are talking about launching an indigenous 'hyperplane' in 2008 that will set up an Indian space power station for 24-hour supply, and not making strides in utilising solar energy. Take for instance the programme to install photovoltaic panels at traffic lights in Delhi and for lighting the billboards. It was announced with all seriousness about five years ago but all that one sees is chaos at traffic junctions the moment the supply from the grid fails. The plan to install solar panels at traffic junctions seems to have been abandoned because it is said it had become difficult to ensure their safety from vandals.

The developed world, after emitting greenhouse gases for 150 years without any concern for the environment, has now turned its attention to countries like India and China to paint then as environmental villains because of their huge gas emissions. Nearly half of India's energy comes from coal-based powerhouses. The country also imports nearly 70 percent of the petroleum that it needs to run its factories and the transport system.

While China has nearly displaces the US as the world's largest gas emitter, India is hurtling towards the second position, a dubious distinction. There is little choice before India than to go green and the temples with all their influence over the majority of population can serve a useful purpose by leading the way.


Solar Power Investing Blog

Canadian Venture Capitalists invest in alternative energy technology

article from:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1155678611206&call_pageid=968350072197&col=969048863851


Investment in clean power technology soars

$87 million in renewable energy, conservation and environment; Share of spending triples to 18 per cent

Aug. 16, 2006. 07:06 AM
TYLER HAMILTON, Toronto Star Energy Reporter

Canadian venture capitalists dramatically increased their investment in alternative-energy and environmental technologies during the second quarter of 2006, amid the backdrop of rising oil prices and heightened concerns over global warming and local smog.

While overall venture capital activity during the quarter plunged 25 per cent year-over-year to $496 million, companies focused on alternative-energy, environmental and other "emerging" technologies captured 18 per cent of the total. That was up from just 6 per cent in all of 2005, according to data released yesterday by the Venture Capital and Private Equity Association.

In dollar terms, $87 million was invested in the second quarter alone, compared with $109 million for all of last year.

Rick Nathan, president of the association and managing director of Kensington Capital Partners in Toronto, said it's too early to say whether the growing interest in such companies — often wrapped under the banner "clean technology" — is a quarterly blip or the sign of a long-term trend.

"It could be a one-off thing, but it's enough of a jump that it made us take notice," said Nathan.

"If we see this level of activity for another couple of quarters, then I think it would show the sector has really emerged as a core part of our industry."

It may be a case of Canada, comparatively conservative in venture capital circles, just catching up to the rest of the world.

"It's definitely not a blip," said Nicholas Parker, chairman and co-founder of the Cleantech Venture Network, which tracks venture capital investing in North American clean-technology companies. "It's entirely consistent with what we're seeing in Europe and the United States."

North American venture capital investment in "cleantech" companies rose to $843 million (U.S.) in the second quarter, up 129 per cent from the same quarter a year earlier, according to figures released last Thursday by the Cleantech Venture Network.

Parker said it was the eighth consecutive quarter of growth for the sector, which is largely focused on new energy technologies such as solar and ethanol. The sector also includes waste reduction, water purification, pollution control and energy efficiency.

Cleantech captured 13.4 per cent of total North American venture capital investments in the quarter.

The sector surpassed telecommunications and medical investments but remained behind biotech and software.

"This is happening almost in spite of public policy, and that's what's so fascinating and exciting," Parker said.

Canadian cleantech companies that raised funds in the second quarter included Ottawa-based cellulosic ethanol developer Iogen Corp.; solar-cell maker Arise Technologies Corp. of Kitchener; and Advanced Glazings Ltd., based in Sydney, N.S., a maker of a high-efficiency insulating glaze for windows.

Globally, clean-energy investments exceeded $2 billion (U.S.) in the second quarter, more than double the amount a year earlier, according to New Energy Finance, a London-based alternative-energy research company.

And momentum is building.

Earlier this month, Chrysalix Energy LP, a Vancouver-based venture capital firm that focuses on clean-energy technologies, announced the closing of a new fund totalling $70 million (Canadian).

The company said the fund will target investments in a number of clean-technology areas.

They will include solar, biofuels, fuel cells, clean coal, energy efficiency, energy storage and energy from waste.


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