Mercom Capital Group Reports Second Quarter 2011 Funding and M&A Activity for Solar

AUSTIN, TX--(Marketwire - Jul 12, 2011) - Mercom Capital Group llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the solar sector for the second quarter of 2011.

Venture capital (VC) funding in the solar sector dipped this quarter, coming in at $354M, compared to $658M in Q1 2011. Even with lower funding, the number of deals remained steady with 26 deals funded in Q2 2011 compared to 25 deals in Q1.

"Year-to-date funding in solar is still very strong coming to approximately $1B. At this point in 2010, VC funding was approximately $1.3B. 2011 may still end up higher in terms of VC funding, considering the second half of 2010 was weak. Q2 was a huge M&A quarter for the solar sector with M&A activity equaling almost the whole of 2010," commented Raj Prabhu, Managing Partner at Mercom Capital Group.

The top five funding deals included a $94.4M raise by Suniva, a manufacturer of high-efficiency monocrystalline silicon solar cells and modules in Series D funding; Enecsys, a grid-connected solar micro inverter manufacturer raised $41M in Series B; Agile Energy, a developer of utility-scale renewable power projects, raised $24M in Series B; Semprius, a concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) module manufacturer raised $20.6M in Series C and SolarReserve, a developer of utility-scale solar thermal power projects, raised $20M in a Series C round.

Photovoltaic (PV) technology companies attracted the most funding in Q2 with $107M going into just three deals. Balance of System (BOS) companies were the most active in terms of number of deals with $89M going into six deals.

Forty-seven different VC investors participated in 19 disclosed deals. VC firms that recorded multiple rounds included Emerald Technology Ventures, Foundation Capital, GE, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Rockport Capital and Good Energies.

It was another record quarter for M&A activity with Q2 coming in at $1.9B for 11 transactions, compared to $1.4B in Q1 2011. The most notable transaction was the 60 percent acquisition of SunPower, a manufacturer of high efficiency PV panels by French oil and gas giant, Total, for $1.4B.

For a complete list of Q2 2011 transactions in the Solar sector, visit: http://mercomcapital.com/cleanenergyreports.php

About Mercom Capital Group
Mercom Capital Group is a global clean energy communications and consulting firm. Mercom's consulting division advises clean energy companies on new market entry, custom market intelligence and strategic decision-making. Mercom delivers highly respected industry market intelligence reports covering Solar Energy, Wind Energy and Smart Grid, providing timely industry happenings and ahead-of-the-curve analysis for decision makers. Mercom's communications division helps clean energy companies build powerful relationships with media, analysts, government decision-makers, local communities and strategic partners. For more information, visit: http://www.mercomcapital.com. For Mercom's market intelligence reports, visit: http://mercomcapital.com/market_intelligence.php.