Corporate Funding For Wind Sector Hits $15.4 Billion In 2015
Total global corporate funding in the wind sector hit a record $15.4 billion in 2015, according to Mercom Capital Group.
Mercom Capital Group, one of several leading clean energy consulting firms, released its report for 2015’s funding and merger & acquisition activity in the wind sector this week, revealing that the total global corporate funding in the wind sector — which includes venture capital/private equity (VC), debt financing, and public market financing — raised by public companies reached a record $15.4 billion, up from $11.8 billion in 2014.
Corporate funding saw a total of 74 deals totaling $15.4 billion, compared to 2014’s 54 deals totaling $11.8 billion.
Global venture capital investments rose to $520 million in 2015, with 14 deals, compared to 15 deals totaling $311 million in 2014. Wind downstream companies accounted for the vast majority of VC funding, with $505 of the total $520 million. The top VC funded company in 2015 was ReNew Power Ventures, which raised $265 million.
Public market financing was down in 2015, dropping to $2.8 billion over 20 deals, compared to $3.7 billion over 16 deals in 2014. 2015 saw three IPOs, including two yieldcos, which raised a total of $1.3 billion of the total $2.8 billion.
Debt financing increased by more than 56% in 2015, totaling $12 billion in 40 deals, compared to $7.7 billion over 23 deals in 2014.
Large-scale project funding deals in 2015 totaled $18.3 billion over 101 deals, compared to $19.9 billion over 120 deals in 2014.
Corporate merger & acquisition (M&A) activity in 2015 saw 48 transactions, of which only 30 disclosed transaction amounts, compared to 28 transactions and 12 disclosed in 2014. Wind downstream companies accounted for 32 of the M&A transactions in 2015, compared to 20 of the total 28 in 2014, with the top three 2015 transactions all involving downstream companies.
A total of 154 wind project acquisitions took place in 2015 totaling nearly 30 GW, compared to 154 transactions for around 154 GW in 2014. Investment funds led in project acquisitions, and of the total 154 projects, 14 were offshore projects. The largest acquisition by dollar amount was the $2 billion acquisition of the 930 MW worth of wind projects from Invenergy Wind by TerraForm Power.
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