VC funding shows signs of life with $16 million. Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, released its report on funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the wind sector during the first quarter of 2013.

Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, released its report on funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the wind sector during the first quarter of 2013.

Wind venture capital funding rebounded in the first quarter of 2013, raising $16 million in three deals after the previous quarter saw just one $500,000 VC deal.

VC deals included Export Development Canada's $7 million financing of Endurance, a Vancouver-based manufacturer of wind turbines designed for power grid applications. Also receiving financing was Pentalum, a developer of a wind LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) system for remote sensing of wind, which raised $5.5 million from Bright Capital, Cedar Fund, Evergreen Venture Partners, ABB and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Finally, Heartland Energy Solutions, a manufacturer of 100 kW wind turbines and blades, raised $3.9 million.

Most of the funding activity this quarter went towards project funding. Announced project funding in Q1 2013 came to $6.2 billion in 29 deals with some extremely large transactions recorded this quarter. Large-scale onshore wind projects received over $3.42 billion in 26 deals while offshore wind projects received over $2.74 billion in three deals. In the United States, wind became the most installed energy generation source in 2012 and has continued that momentum in the first quarter of 2013.

The Top 5 large-scale projects funded in Q1 2013 included $1.9 billion in project financing for wpd group's 288 MW Butendiek offshore wind project in Germany; $700 million in debt financing for Samsung Renewable Energy and Pattern Energy Group's 270 MW South Kent onshore wind project in Canada; a $664 million loan raised by EnBW Erneuerbare Energien for its 288 MW Baltic 2 offshore wind project from EIB; a $500 million investment received by Invenergy Wind for its 11 operating onshore wind projects in the United States and Canada (~1,500 MW) from Caisse; and a $399 million investment was received by EDF EN's Mexican unit, Eoliatec del Istmo, for its 164 MW Bii Stinu onshore wind project from Mitsui's subsidiary MIT Renewables Mexico and EDF Energies Nouvelles.

There were four M&A transactions in Q1 2013, amounting to $543 million, out of which three were disclosed.

The top M&A transaction this quarter was the acquisition of the Polish onshore wind business of Dong Energy, a company involved in procuring, producing, distributing and trading in energy and related products, by two Polish power utilities Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE) and Energa, for $314 million.

There was strong project acquisition activity this quarter with 17 transactions amounting to $1.4 billion. The largest project M&A transaction by amount was UK-based renewable energy investor and developer Blue Energy's acquisition of the 177 MW RidgeWind portfolio from HgCapital for $392 million. The largest project acquisition by MW was Geronimo Energy's acquisition of Midwest Wind Energy's 1,000 MW Wind Park Burg II Project.

To learn more about the report, visit: Wind Q1 2013 Funding and M&A Report

About Mercom Capital Group

Mercom Capital Group, llc, is a global communications and consulting firm focused exclusively on clean energy and financial communications. Mercom's consulting division advises cleantech companies on strategies for strategic decision making and new market entry and provides custom market research. Mercom's consulting division also delivers highly respected industry market intelligence reports covering Wind Energy, Solar Energy and Smart Grid. Our reports provide timely industry happenings and ahead-of-the-curve analysis specifically for C-level decision making. Mercom's communications division helps clean energy companies and financial institutions build powerful relationships with media, analysts, government decision makers, local communities and strategic partners. For more information about Mercom Capital Group, visit: http://www.mercomcapital.com. To get a copy of Mercom's popular market intelligence reports, visit: http://mercomcapital.com/market_intelligence.php.

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