Solar Funding: Wells Fargo to invest $ 120 M in SunEdison Photovoltaic PPAs

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) and SunEdison LLC, a subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE: WFR), announced an agreement by which Wells Fargo subsidiaries will invest up to $120 million to fund U.S. solar photovoltaic distributed generation power projects developed by SunEdison over the next year. The program builds on a SunEdison solar investment fund established in 2007 in which Wells Fargo invested more than $200 million in approximately 150 solar projects developed by SunEdison in eight states.

"Wells Fargo is excited to continue our relationship with SunEdison and expand our commitment to grow the U.S. solar market," said Barry Neal, head of Wells Fargo'sEnvironmental Finance Group. "The solar projects developed by SunEdison will help businesses and public entities better control their electricity costs, while expanding the use of renewable energy throughout the U.S."

Financing provided by Wells Fargo will enable SunEdison to cost-effectively provide a clean and reliable source of electricity to its customers, including corporations and municipalities. Under the power purchase agreement (PPA) model, SunEdison builds, manages, and operates the solar systems while its customers buy the energy produced at prices at or below retail rates. This allows customers to avoid upfront costs typically associated with solar projects.

"SunEdison makes investing in solar a smart choice," said Chris Bailey, SunEdison vice president of Project Finance, North America. “SunEdison has the experience and know-how that project investors and customers trust. SunEdison looks forward to growing its relationship with Wells Fargo as we continue to make solar a reality for our customers across the nation."

SunEdison, a leading worldwide solar energy services provider, has deployed over 400 solar projects totaling over 160MW in North America, and has developed over 100MW outside of North America.

Wells Fargo has provided more than $2 billion in tax equity financing for renewable energy projects since 2006, including funding for 30 wind projects, over 200 commercial-scale solar projects and one utility-scale solar thermal project.
www.sunedison.com

Recovery Act: $500 Million awarded for clean energy projects

Marking a major milestone in the effort to spur private sector investments in clean energy and create new jobs for America’s workers, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced $502 million in the first round of awards from an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) program that provides cash assistance to energy production companies in place of earned tax credits. The new funding creates additional upfront capital, enabling companies to create jobs and begin construction that may have been stalled until now.

“The Recovery Act is investing in our long-term energy needs while creating jobs in communities around the country,” said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. “This renewable energy program will spur the manufacture and development of clean energy in urban and rural America, allowing us to protect our environment, create good jobs and revitalize our nation’s economy.”

Said Secretary Chu: “These grants will help America's businesses launch clean energy projects, putting Americans back to work in good construction and manufacturing jobs. The initiative will help double our renewable energy capacity over the next few years and make sure America leads the world in creating the clean energy economy of the future.”

Created under Section 1603 of the Recovery Act, the program is expected to provide more than $3 billion in financial support for clean energy projects by providing direct payments in lieu of tax credits. These payments will support an estimated 5,000 bio-mass, solar, wind, and other types of renewable energy production facilities in all regions of the country over the life of the program. As a result of this first round of funding, more than 2,000 Americans will have access to jobs in the renewable energy industry – both in construction and in manufacturing – while moving the nation closer to meeting the Administration's goal of doubling renewable energy generation in the next few years.

The Treasury Department opened the application process for the 1603 program on July 31, 2009 and is today making the first awards in half the statutorily mandated turnaround time of 60 days. The list of grantees.

DOE: $327 Million new funding for science & energy security research

U.S Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that more than $327 million in new funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will go toward scientific research, instrumentation, and laboratory infrastructure projects. Ten of DOE’s national laboratories in six states will be receiving funds, along with researchers at institutions of higher learning across the nation.

“These new initiatives will help to create new jobs while allowing the U.S. to maintain its scientific leadership and economic competitiveness ,” said Secretary Steven Chu. “The projects provide vital funding and new tools for research aimed at strengthening America’s energy security and tackling some of science’s toughest challenges.”

Of the $327 million in Recovery Act funding announced today, $107.5 million is slated to go to universities, nonprofit organizations, and private firms, generally on a competitive, peer-reviewed basis. The remaining $220 million will go to U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories for a range of research, instrumentation, and infrastructure projects, including $164.7 million for projects already allocated as follows:

- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; Batavia, IL—$60.2 million, including $52.7 million for research on next-generation particle accelerator technologies; and $7.5 for neutrino research in collaboration with Brookhaven National Laboratory.

- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Berkeley, CA—$ 37.8 million, including $13.1 million to upgrade equipment at the DOE Joint Genome Institute; $11 million for fusion energy research; $8.8 million for equipment improvements at the Advanced Light Source; $4 million for new instrumentation at the DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute, one of three DOE Bioenergy Research Centers; and $875,000 for mathematical analysis related to the development of Smart Grid technology.

- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory; Stanford, CA—$21.8 million, including $20 million for an experimental end station at the Linac Coherent Light Source to study high energy density plasmas; and $1.8 million for improvements at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource.

- Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory; Princeton, NJ—$13.8 million, including $8.8 million for a variety of initiatives in fusion energy research and $5 million for infrastructure improvements at the laboratory.

- Brookhaven National Laboratory; Upton, NY—$9.5 million, including $3 million for improvements at the National Synchrotron Light Source; and $6.5 million for neutrino research.

- Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Oak Ridge, TN—$8.7 million, including $5.4 million for equipment at the DOE BioEnergy Science Center, a DOE Bioenergy Research Center; $3.2 million to seed development of computerized knowledgebase to integrate masses of data flowing from DOE-supported genomics and systems biology research; and $180,000 for fusion energy research.

- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Richland, WA—$5.7 million, including $4.9 million for integrated assessment modeling for climate; and $867,000 for mathematical analysis related to the development of Smart Grid.

- Argonne National Laboratory; Argonne, IL—$5.6 million for improvements at the Advanced Photon Source.

- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Livermore, CA—$810,000 for fusion energy research.

- Sandia National Laboratories; Sandia, NM, and Sandia, CA—$800,000, including $688,000 for mathematical analysis related to the development of Smart Grid; and $75,000 for fusion energy research.

In March Secretary Chu announced $1.2 billion in DOE Office of Science Recovery Act projects. In July, DOE announced a new Office of Science Early Career Research Program to be funded with $85 million in Recovery Act funds. With this third and final round of projects, the Obama Administration has now approved projects covering the full $1.6 billion that the DOE Office of Science received from Congress under the Recovery Act.
http://www.energy.gov

Borrego Solar Systems Launches Power Purchase Agreement Program

New Integrated Solar Financing Option to Help Schools, Companies and Government Organizations Finance Solar Projects

Borrego Solar Systems, Inc., a leading designer and installer of grid-tied solar electric power systems, today introduced a new financing option for schools, companies and government organizations interested in adopting clean, renewable solar energy. Borrego’s new power-purchase agreement (PPA) program gives its customers a new, simple way to finance a solar project without having to assume the up-front costs of the project or work with a third-party financier.

With $30 million backing from a PPA fund launched by Walsin Lihwa, a current investor, Borrego is well positioned to develop and finance more than $100 million solar projects over the next 12 months. The PPA program is also the first commercial PPA of its kind designed to finance school and commercial solar projects in Massachusetts. Borrego has already received interest in the program from early customers in Massachusetts, New Jersey and California.

“Borrego Solar has long been a leader in commercial scale solar systems, bringing significant expertise, quality of service and optimum system performance to its customers,” said Yu-Lon Chiao, Chairman of Walsin Lihwa. “As a result of this deal Walsin Lihwa has committed to supporting Borrego Solar in its mission to become the leading provider of commercial scale solar electric solutions in North America. We are excited about the market potential for Borrego’s integrated solar energy services.”

“We continue to see significant demand for grid-tied solar systems, but a common concern for many customers is the lack of financing available to design, install and maintain the system,” said Mike Hall, CEO of Borrego Solar. “And though the PPA is not a new concept, some customers don’t want the hassle of finding a third-party financing option or the restriction of having to deploy the technology chosen by the PPA provider. By choosing a Borrego PPA, customers deal with one company for system financing, design, construction, operation and maintenance. As a result of this program Borrego is now able to offer our customers a “one stop shop” for all solar energy services - all without the technology lock-in of other programs.”

Borrego finished 2008 with $58 million in revenue and more than $90 million in contracts, having completed some of the country’s largest projects for schools, companies and government agencies. By offering a commercial PPA, the company expects to increase the size and scope of projects it designs, builds and manages.
http://www.borregosolar.com/

Tendril and Alertme secure financing for residential energy management

Good Energies and VantagePoint Venture Partners involved in both deals.

Tendril, creator of the Tendril Residential Energy Ecosystem (TREE) for utilities, energy retailers and their consumers, today announced it has secured $30 million in Series C funding.

The investment was led by VantagePoint Venture Partners, a recognized leader in the clean tech space, and includes Good Energies, the leading global investor in renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions, RRE Ventures, a builder of leading companies in the software, communications and financial services industries, Vista Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm based in Boulder, Colorado and Appian Ventures, an investor in software and technologies that improve business performance through the application and management of network connectivity.

AlertMe.com, the award- winning provider of smart energy saving systems for homes, today announced it has secured £8 million in Series B funding by investors Good Energies, Index Ventures, SET Venture Partners and VantagePoint Venture Partners. The financing will enable AlertMe.com to extend its product development program, continue to ramp up its distribution strategy and to expand the existing team.

Solazyme gets $57 M for synthetic biofuels

Solazyme, Inc., a renewable oil production company and leader in algal synthetic biology, announced that it has surpassed $76 million in funding, which includes a $57million Series C financing round that just closed. Solazyme uses microalgae biotechnology to produce clean and scalable fuels, “green” chemicals, edible oils and health and wellness products.

Braemar Energy Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners led the financing round and were joined by other new investors including VantagePoint Venture Partners. All major existing investors participated in the round, including The Roda Group, Harris and Harris Group, and Solazyme Chairman Jerry Fiddler. The round also included new strategic investors in key target markets. All funding has been dispersed to Solazyme and will be used to move the company to commercialization.

"This most recent funding validates the unique value of our oil production platform and adds to our already strong financial position. Solazyme’s mission is to answer the increasing global demand for clean and renewable sources of oil. We offer sustainable and scalable technology that provides unique solutions for addressing four of the largest challenges facing our country and our planet: increasing energy demand, heightened energy security needs, energy related environmental degradation and hunger," said Jonathan Wolfson, CEO of Solazyme.

"Braemar’s mission is to identify and support the most promising alternative energy firms with disruptive technologies that provide meaningful clean energy solutions," said William Lese of Braemer Energy Ventures. "Solazyme’s renewable oil and advanced biofuels technology is leading the industry on the path to commercialization and will be cleanly powering our vehicles with renewable fuels that fit within the existing infrastructure."

"Solazyme has proven itself as a pioneer in the advanced biofuels space, by being the first to do many things including scale-up, production and road testing of a variety of advanced biofuels that can simultaneously meet current U.S. fuel specifications while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by over 80%," said Chris Schaepe, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Dan Miller from The Roda Group added, “We are proud to have been an investor in Solazyme since the early seed round, and we are increasingly excited about sizeable opportunities for Solazyme’s renewable oils in all markets from fuels, to cosmetics to nutritional oils.”

"Since 2001 VantagePoint Venture Partners has focused its CleanTech efforts on identifying and investing in the leading company in those sectors best addressing the issues of natural resource limitations, climate change and energy independence," said Stephan Dolezalek, Managing Director and CleanTech Group Lead, VantagePoint Venture Partners. "The potential role of algae in achieving these targets has long been clear, but it has taken a while for a definitive category leader to arise. We believe that Solazyme has now emerged as the preeminent player in the algal biomaterials and biofuels sector.”

Solazyme’s unique renewable oil production process grows algae in the dark in an industrial fermentation process, where the algae are fed non-food biomass and industrial byproducts including a wide variety of cellulosic materials and low-grade waste glycerol which are converted by the algae into oil. This allows the company to produce oil cleanly and economically in a controlled, large-scale process. Solazyme is currently producing thousands of gallons of oil in commercial scale facilities and has produced in-specification fuels including renewable diesel, biodiesel and jet fuel. Solazyme’s first fuel, SoladieselTM, has been successfully road tested as an unblended fuel (100%) for thousands of miles in a variety of unmodified vehicles. Additionally, Solazyme’s process is the first bridge from non–food carbohydrates and industrial waste streams to edible and renewable oils. This technology has already been shown to produce high quality oils for a multitude of purposes across a variety of industries.

SolarCity and U.S. Bank Forge New Partnership to Fund Solar Projects

Nation’s 6th-largest commercial bank and nation’s leading residential solar installer create new tax equity fund to enable more American homeowners and businesses to adopt clean power

SolarCity®, a national leader in solar power system design, financing, installation, monitoring and related services, and U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation (USBCDC) today announced a new partnership to finance solar projects for U.S. homeowners and businesses. USBCDC is a division of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), which is also the parent of U.S. Bank, the sixth largest commercial bank in America. The two companies have created a new tax equity fund to finance SolarCity’s groundbreaking solar lease option (SolarLease™) for homeowners and power purchase agreements (PPA) for businesses. The two companies are not disclosing financial terms of the fund, but do expect it to finance more solar projects in 2009 than any other tax equity fund in the U.S.

“SolarCity’s leasing option is one of the most affordable ways to go solar that we’ve seen, and we’re thrilled to partner with them. This partnership will grow the adoption of solar energy in the U.S., and create more green jobs,” said Darren Van't Hof, vice president of solar, new markets and historic investments for U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation. “Today’s announcement is only the beginning—we look forward to making additional investments with SolarCity, and believe this partnership will ultimately enable thousands of American homeowners and businesses to adopt cleaner power and save money on energy costs in the process.”

USBCDC’s new fund is one of only two tax equity funds closed in 2009 in the U.S. with the ability to finance residential solar projects—both funds were created with SolarCity to finance solar installations. SolarCity plans to hire 100 new employees in the next six months to increase installation capacity as a result of the new financing. SolarCity’s SolarLease option allows U.S. homeowners to put no money down on a new solar system and save money from day one on energy costs. The company’s unique combination of integrated financing, design, installation, monitoring and guaranteed performance has made it the most popular residential solar provider in the U.S.

“Tax equity financing has been the primary constraint on the growth of the solar industry, so we’re obviously thrilled and very grateful to U.S. Bank,” said Lyndon Rive, CEO of SolarCity. “This fund will allow us to increase our installation throughput and hire more installers to keep pace with strong demand from American businesses and homeowners for affordable, clean solar power.”

SolarCity operates in California, Arizona and Oregon. Businesses and homeowners interested in SolarCity’s zero-down financing options can contact the company directly at 1-888-SOL-CITY (1-888-765-2489). Homeowners interested in SolarLease can estimate their solar lease payment and potential electricity savings by using SolarCity’s solar calculator, available online at www.solarcity.com.