Global wind energy market got a boost in 2013 with the global investment in this sector touching $28.1bn, according to a new research from Mercom Capital Group.
Venture capital funding rose to $455m compared with $315m in 2012, the report said. Downstream companies raised a combined $374.3m and six small wind turbine manufacturers $68.8m.
ReNew Power, an Indian developer, was the top VC-funded company in 2013, bagging $135m, followed by Ireland’s Mainstream Renewable Power with $133m. Other major investments include $6.2m by a wind component company and $5.5m by three monitoring software companies.
Wind energy market also witnessed public market financing of $5.8bn in 17 deals including six initial public offerings totaling $2.3bn.
There was a total of $18.1bn in 114 deals in large-scale project funding as compared with $14bn in 72 deals in 2012, while a total of 150 investors participated in project funding in 2013, the report said.
The most active project funding investors were KfW IPEX-Bank with nine deals, the European Investment Bank with seven deals and Nord/LB with six deals.
The wind sector recorded 33 transactions in 2013, 18 of which were disclosed for a combined $2.6bn. This compared with 35 transactions in 2012. Of the 33 deals last year, downstream companies accounted for 20, component companies for six, service providers and manufacturers for three each and BOS companies one, reNews reported.
The top M&A deal last year was the $1.25bn acquisition of bearings outfit Kaydon Corporation by SKF Group, followed by the acquisition of Dong Energy’s Polish onshore wind business by Polska Grupa Energetyczna and Energa for $314m.
Elsewhere, Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners acquired Western Wind Energy for $182m and Actis bought 60 percent of Atlantic Energias Renovaveis for an initial commitment of $169m.
Disclosed project acquisitions increased in 2013 with 116 transactions compared with 72 in 2012, representing more than 16GW.
The top five of large-scale wind project acquisitions for the year was led by SEAS-NVE’s acquisition of an 80 percent stake in the 207MW Rodsand 2 offshore project from Eon for $577m, the report said.
Others in the top league include Portland General Electric’s acquisition of Puget Sound Energy’s 267MW Lower Snake River Phase 2 for $535m and Blue Energy’s $392m deal for the 177MW RidgeWind portfolio from HgCapital.
The quintet is rounded off by SSE’s $305m buy-up of the 99MW Dunmaglass scheme from RES and Iberdrola Renewables Polska’s sale of 184.5MW of projects to Energa Hydro and Polska Grupa Energetyczna for $265m.
The debt financing stood at $3.8bn in 10 deals in 2013 compared with $12.5bn in 16 deals previously. There were 34 new cleantech and wind-related funds announced, 14 of them in the fourth quarter, the report said.
Also read: World offshore wind market spending to level off at €15 billion per year over the next decade