Cold water thrown on the solar industry from some quarters didn't stop considerable investor dollars from flowing into a number of deals this week.

And, in addition to the two new IPOs below aside, don't miss the $450m being raised by ethanol maker VeraSun.

• Britain's PV Crystalox Solar, which makes solar-grade silicon products, this week announced plans to raise 50 million pounds ($100 million) in an initial public offering of its shares to fund a polysilicon production plant in Germany. The company was expected to have a market value of around 500 million pounds after its float. The company is based near Oxford and its customers are major solar cell companies. JP Morgan Cazenove is to coordinate the offering and be its sole bookrunner, while Jefferies International is to be co-lead manager.
• Clean Energy Fuels Corp., a Seal Beach, California-based provider of natural gas as an alternative fuel for vehicle fleets, set proposed IPO terms to 20 million common shares being offered at between $13 and $17 per share. It plans to trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol CLNE, with WR Hambrecht & Co. and Simmons & Co. serving as co-lead underwriters. Perseus holds a 19.5% pre-IPO position, while Boone Pickens is majority shareholder. Both plan to sell a percentage of their shares as part of the IPO.
• Shunda Holdings Co., a China-based maker of mono-crystalline silicon ingots and wafers, raised $82 million in private equity funding. Actis led the deal with a $40 million infusion, and was joined by Chinese institutions Jolmo and Waichun. Shunda is a supplier to solar cell manufacturer Suntech, an existing Actis portfolio company.
• Solaicx, manufacturer of mono-crystalline silicon ingots and wafers optimized for photovoltaic applications, closed $27.1 million in Series C financing. The D. E. Shaw group was the lead investor in the funding round, which included a new investment from Mitsui Ventures and follow-on investments from Applied Ventures, LLC (the venture capital arm of Applied Materials), Firsthand Capital Management, Big Sky Ventures, and Greenhouse Capital Partners.
• PV thin-film and project developer Optisolar took in $10.2m in funding from Gardiner Group Capital, Richardson Ventures, and four other private investors. Gardiner Group and Richardson Ventures now apparently each hold more 10% of the company after the funding. The company is, among other things, developing a 40 MW solar project in Ontario.
• As reported earlier this week by Cleantech.com (see Ethanol sector slapped on bad VeraSun earnings) VeraSun Energy of Brookings, South Dakota, a leading U.S. ethanol producer, is offering $450 million in notes due 2014 and 2017. The company intends to use the net proceeds to finance a portion of the costs of construction and startup of a 110 million gallons per year ethanol production facility near Reynolds, Indiana, to purchase and install corn oil extraction equipment at its three operating plants and for other general corporate purposes.
• Wells Fargo has committed to making an equity investment in the Fenton Wind Energy Project, Minnesota's largest wind farm, and Wells Fargo's fifth wind energy investment commitment in less than one year. Working with several other leading financial institutions, Wells Fargo is to provide approximately $160 million in equity capital to the five projects, which will have a total combined value of over $1 billion and generating capacity of 591 megawatts.
• Merrill Lynch Commodity Partners (MLCP) closed on a $35 million investment in Vulcan Power Company, a private entity holding one of the largest geothermal property portfolios in the U.S., including properties in California, Nevada, Oregon, and Arizona. The MLCP investment is the first stage of a $150 million private round of financing by Vulcan to develop geothermal property with potential to generate 900 megawatts (MW) to 2,000 MW of natural steam fuel, the company said.
• Ultracapcitor maker Maxwell Technologies priced the sale of one million shares of its common stock in a public offering underwritten by UBS Investment Bank, resulting in gross proceeds to the company of $10.4 million. All of the stock is being offered by the company, and the transaction is expected to close on May 14, 2007. The NASDAQ-traded company plans to use the proceeds for working capital and general corporate purposes.
• Pionetics Corporation of San Carlos, California received $6M from XPV Capital's Cleantech Fund, a firm's known for investing in water companies. XPV was joined by existing investors NGEN Partners, Unilever Technology Ventures, RockPort Capital Partners, Topspin Partners, Pangaea Ventures, and Firelake Capital. Pionetics makes water purification systems for residential use and is targeting China as its initial market.
• Marrone Organic Innovations closed a $3.75mm Series A round, led by Clean Pacific Ventures. One Earth Capital, Saffron Hill Ventures, Calvert Social Investment Fund, Wavepoint Ventures, and strategic and angel investors also participated. Marrone develops organic alternatives to pesticides and weed management.
• Better Biodiesel, a producer of biodiesel fuel, completed a $690,000 equity financing with strategic investors. The company's CEO and CFO also participated in the financing. The company said it intends to use proceeds primarily to build out its Spanish Fork biodiesel production facility in Utah.
• Accutest Corp., a Dayton, N.J.–based operator of environmental testing laboratories, received an undisclosed amount of private equity funding from Boulder Capital.

Deal tips? We're all ears.

Browse previous dealflow roundups here.