Global venture funding in wind energy sector touched $240 million

Wind energy may have attracted lukewarm response in India but global venture funding in wind energy sector touched $240 million with record 12 deals during first quarter of 2012 according a report by Mercom Capital Group.

This is in sharp contrast to two deals totaling $12 million in the previous quarter. Top VC deals in the first quarter included a $183 million raised by Element Power, a global project developer, and a $20.2 million raised by ReGen Powertech, a turnkey solution provider as well as a wind turbine manufacturer.

Other top transactions included a $18.6 million raised by project developer Leap Green Energy, a $10 million raise by Apex Wind Energy, a developer of commercial scale wind facilities, and a $3.5 million raised by Pentalum, a developer of Wind LiDAR for remote wind sensing.

Large-scale project funding during the quarter totaled $3.2 billion in 16 deals. Top large scale project funding deals announced in the first quarter included $620 million in project funding by Marena Renovables for the 396 mw Oaxaca wind project, $376 million in debt funding by Wind Capital Group for a 201 mw Post Rock Wind Energy Project, and $340 million in tax equity raised by Enel Green Power North America for their 350 mw Caney River and Rocky Ridge Wind Farms.

Other top deals were $320 million in construction debt raised by NaturEner for the 189MW Rim Rock Wind Project, $263 million in a credit facility received by CPV Renewable Energy for the 166MW Cimarron Wind Energy Project. Large-scale onshore wind projects received $3.2 billion in 16 deals.