The 4th of July holiday in the U.S. didn't cramp cleantech investors' style this week.

Some $250 million in USD equivalent changed hands around the world, or is about to, including two biofuel deals involving Mohr Davidow Ventures and bond raises by AltraBiofuels and Sopogy.

Deals we saw this week:

• AltraBiofuels, a California-based producer of renewable biofuels, secured an additional $165.5 million in debt for the completion of ethanol refineries in Coshocton, Ohio and Cloverdale, Indiana. Expected dates of completion are the fourth quarter of 2007 for Ohio and early in the second quarter 2008 for Indiana. The financing in Indiana was arranged and issued by AgStar and Home Federal in December 2006. For the Ohio project, AltraBiofuels recently issued bonds under the State of Ohio Air Quality Development Authority with Morgan Stanley as placement agent.
• Hawaii-based Sopogy (pron. SOAP-a-gee) received state approval to issue $10 million in special revenue bonds to build a solar farm tentatively planned for the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority facility in Kona. Sopogy is pursuing a new solar thermal concentration technology using mirrored parabolas for gigawatt-scale utility power generation.
• Marine Current Turbines, an ocean energy company in the U.K., raised the equivalent of about $15 million in financing from Troidos Bank and AM2, a hedge fund. The capital will be used to build a commercial tidal energy farm in the next 3-5 years. Marine Current Turbines is only a few months away from its first commercial installation, to be located in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough. The installation is running slightly behind its previously-announced schedule, company technical director Peter Fraenkel told Cleantech.com today.
• Biofuel developer Catilin of Ames, Iowa raised $3 million in Series A financing led by Mohr Davidow Ventures (MDV). Catilin has developed a process it claims greatly reduces the cost of biodiesel, reduces the number of production steps, works with existing production facilities and reduces water consumption and environmental contaminants. Funds are to be used to build out a pilot production facility, continue research, and build its team.
• Mohr Davidow also announced this week that it invested in biofuel technology company ZeaChem. ZeaChem says its combined biochemical and thermochemical processes result in a fuel energy output more than 10 times greater than the total energy inputs for the fuel [ed.: Yeah? Last week, E3 biofuels claimed an energy value of 46. See Cow powered ethanol plant enters production.] ZeaChem is now building a pilot plant. Joining MDV in the $4 million round is Firelake Capital.
• Germany's Heliatek, developing organic solar cells with a targeted cost of €1 per Wp, raised a round of financing greater than €3.2mm. BASF and Bosch are each putting €1.6mm into the round, and other investors included Wellington Partners and the High-Tech Grunderfonds. The company earlier raised €600,000 in seed financing from High-Tech Grunderfonds and one of the company founders.
• Automotive battery maker Ener1, traded on the bulletin board, is to receive $15 million in a private placement from its parent company Ener1 Group for the continuing development of its lithium ion batteries and the product launch of its fuel-cell-powered surveillance camera. The money, $3.8 million of which has already been invested, is to meet operating requirements through December 31, 2007. Ener1 is waiting for phase II of a contract from the United States Advanced Battery Consortium.
• SDCmaterials, which develops alternatives to precious metals used in catalyst applications, raised a $6.3 million Series A led by Emerald Technology Ventures, and also including BASF Venture Capital and two other unnamed investors.
• GaAs triple-junction solar cell developer QuantaSol raised a £1.35 million seed round of financing from Low Carbon Accelerator, Numis Securities, Netscientific Ltd., and Sheffield University Enterprise. Expensive triple junction PV cells are economically viable in concentration-based solar power systems.
• UK-based food waste biomass-to-energy developer Inetec raised £2.5 million, led by Oxford Capital Partners and with participation by existing investor Finance Wales and undisclosed other new investors.
• Mobius Power, a Lewes, Delaware-based battery startup, raised $4.3 million in first-round funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sigma Partners and Walden International. A regulatory filing indicates that the company is raising upwards of $12.3 million.
• France-based Solaire Direct, a solar PV developer and installer, raised a €6.1mm round of financing from TechFund, Schneider Electric Ventures, and Demeter Partners.
• Sierra Nevada Partners acquired HelioPower, a Californian solar installer with operations in Southern California and the Sacramento area. No financial terms were disclosed. Capital Advice LLC advised Sierra Nevada on the deal.

Browse previous deals here.

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