Global corporate funding in solar sector touches $13.3 billion in H1

NEW DELHI: The total global corporate funding in the second quarter of this year in solar sector amounted to $ 6.3 billion, taking the aggregate investments in the first six months of this year to $ 13.3 billion, consulting firm Mercom Capital Group said.

Total global corporate funding in the solar sector, including venture capital (VC), private equity (PE), debt financing, and public market financing raised by public companies, came in at $ 6.3 billion, while in the first quarter the amount stood at $ 7 billion, the firm said.

"It was a solid quarter for the solar sector in terms of fundraising. VC funding was up, public markets remained strong and we are seeing new and innovative financial structures," Mercom Capital Group CEO Raj Prabhu said.

Residential/commercial solar funds continue to raise record amounts, he added.

In the VC funding space, the April-June quarter saw deals worth $ 432 million through 21 deals including two Indian deals.

The two Indian VC deals included Simpa Networks raising $ 2.2 million in funding and A K Surya PowerMagic raising about $ 0.5 million from Intellecap Impact Investment Network and Infuse Ventures.

Meanwhile, there were 33 large-scale project funding deals totaling $ 3.5 billion announced in Q2 2014, including two Indian deals.

The two Indian deals were Welspun Renewables Energy raising $ 24 million from GE Energy Financial Services and CaptureSolar Energy, raising $ 125 million from PG Concept, a Cyprus-based PV solutions provider, for a 75 MW solar PV project in Pune, Maharashtra.

There were 25 corporate M&A transactions in the solar sector in Q2, down from 38 transactions in Q1 2014. The largest disclosed M&A transaction by dollar amount was the $ 350 million acquisition of Silevo, a solar cell and PV module manufacturer, by SolarCity.