I’m not sure how much of a surprise this will be for people, but news is 45% of cleantech investments in April ($330 million) were investments in solar power startups. The other cleantech categories receiving large investments included:
- LED Lighting — $61.5 million
- Wind Power — $44.8 million
- Fuel cells & energy storage — $38.4 million
- Smart Grid — $25.3 million
- Biofuels — $15 million
- Power conversion & efficiency — $12.2 million
- Tidal power — $6 million
- Clean fossil fuel burning — $2 million
- Transportation — $700,000
Now, while I think it’s great news that investment in solar energy (as well as these other cleantech sectors) is continuing strong, I don’t want to detract from the fact that we don’t, technically, need any scientific breakthroughs anymore to address climate change (and haven’t for awhile). While I generally take this as a given, it has hit me recently that many people not so involved in this arena might think that we do. A few recent posts on Climate Progress recently brought this potential public and political confusion to the forefront for me. So, more than usual, I’m going to try to emphasize that while R&D and significant technological breakthroughs are great(!) and could go a long way in helping us address critical environmental issues (most notably, global climate change), we are not waiting on any breakthroughs to make truly clean, renewable energy a legitimate solution that can be implemented NOW.
OK, enough with the tangent?
In total, venture capital investments in cleantech companies came to $2.6 billion in the first quarter of 2011. The $330 million invested through 26 deals in April was a bit lower than the average this year, but projections are that investments will pick up again and 2011 will be a big year for cleantech. And solar is expected to remain a big investment sector.
Related Stories:
- International Solar PV Nearly Doubled, PV Growth Doubled in 2010
- U.S. Poised for Wind and Solar Power Boom
- Solar Power Almost as Cheap as Natural Gas in Six States
- Lowe’s Bringing Solar Power to More People (with Help of Sungevity)
- Cleantech Investment Sees Huge Increase, Creams Record in 2010
Image via VentureBeat
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era — Podcast:
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
