Invenergy bucks wind power’s slump with new $30M

February 18, 2009 | Camille Ricketts | Comments | |

Invenergy, a Chicago-based developer of large-scale wind power generation facilities, just closed on a $30 million convertible note from Leaf Clean Energy only weeks after raking in $250 million in capital from several other venture firms. The company has also landed tax equity to finance five wind farms in the U.S. with the potential to generate 603 megawatts of power. (Tax equity is money that banks and firms invest in companies — including many renewable energy enterprises — in exchange for tax credits.)

These investments distinguish Invenergy from the broader field of wind companies, most of which have had a hard time finding capital due to the downturn. Tax equity in particular is tough to come by when little income is anticipated, and a large number of wind projects have been indefinitely delayed or canceled prematurely since the economy crashed. Wind energy projects could fall by as much as half this year compared with 2008, the American Wind Energy Association told VentureWire. And despite Obama’s plans to support wind operations, and despite their inclusion in the economic stimulus package, industry insiders and VCs aren’t terribly optimistic.

So what makes Invenergy different? Probably its scale and traction — the company manages the production of about 2,000 megawatts a year, and has a full pipeline of projects at different stages in store for both Europe and the U.S. (which should be greatly helped by the new funds). Claiming to be one of the top five wind providers in the country, it delivers power to both major utilities and energy merchants and manages its wind farms from early development through day-to-day operation. Other big names in wind power that have fared well include GE Energy, Siemens Wind Power and Vestas.

Until now, Leaf Clean Energy has funded mostly biodiesel, solar and waste-to-energy enterprises. Invenergy is its first bet on wind. For now, it’s known for backing ethanol producer Range Fuels, thin-film solar company Miasole and hydroelectric venture Energia Escalona. Invenergy’s other recent investors have not been disclosed.

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About the Author, Camille Ricketts

Camille is the lead writer for GreenBeat. She came to VentureBeat from Google where she worked on its traditional platforms team, particularly in TV. Before that, she was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in New York and London. Follow her on Twitter at @camillericketts, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

With GreenBeat 2009, VentureBeat's all-star conference on all things Smart Grid, coming up in November, Camille will be expanding coverage of this exciting space. Stay up to date by following @greenbeat2009 on Twitter or by becoming a fan of the event on Facebook here.

  • Its good that organizations are spending on investments in green energy and renewable. Wind and renewable are future. With Obama administration's stress on climatic change and renewable companies like this will definitely gp places.
  • Thanks admin amcacim
  • It is really good to see increasing investments in renewable energy. I recently read a blog post complaining about Bank of America increasing loans to coal power industries. The contrast is pure versus dirty or good vs. evil, eh. Over time, more problems will be solved. I have a lot of hope for the environment, but I feel that it's going to get worse before it gets better.

    As I was one of the recently unemployed, I am about to start selling wind energy products and I am really excited about my career change.

    It was considered to be on the bleeding edge of technology to buy a Prius in 2003, but that's what I did because fuel efficiency was my top priority at the time. Now, it looks like more and more people are buying cars with fuel efficiency as their top priority. I expect that the same sort of "snowballing" is happening with respect to renewable energy.