Silicon in the valley

Just a few months ago, the dollar value of deals between solar equipment makers and their suppliers were counted in the millions, maybe the hundreds of millions.

That changed this week.

Setting a new high water mark for a silicon supply deal, Silicon Valley's Solaria received a $3.5 billion committment for photovoltaic solar cells over 10 years from its investor and partner Q-Cells.

Deals we saw this week:

• Solar technology startup Solaria announced a $50 million Series C round, led by Germany's Q-Cells and including existing investors Sigma Partners, NGEN and Moser Baer. In the deal, Solaria also gained access to 1.35 gigawatts worth of Q-Cells' PV cells to be used in Solaria panels over the next ten years (see the Cleantech Group's $3.5 billion Solaria cell supply deal)
• Cambridge, MA's LiquidPiston announced a $1.25mm seed round from Adams Capital Management and Northwater Capital. The company is developing an advanced "high efficiency hybrid cycle" engine.
• Nevada Geothermal Power is to receive $100 million from Morgan Stanley for a forthcoming 35 megawatt project in the desert of Nevada called Blue Mountain Faulkner I. The project finance loan is expected to close by the end of the year. Company director Markus Christen helped put the deal together, along with Dundee Securities (see the Cleantech Group's Nevada Geothermal gets project financing)
• GFI Energy Ventures acquired Turbine Generator Maintenance, a Cape Coral, Fla.–based provider of field and shop services to the U.S. turbine generator market. No financial terms were disclosed.
• U.S. Energy Systems retained Jefferies & Co. to explore strategic alternatives. Just last month, the clean energy company's subsidiary U.S. Energy Biogas reorganized and emerged from bankruptcy. (see the Cleantech Group's U.S. Energy Biogas emerges from Chapter 11)
• Altairnano signed a joint development and equipment purchase agreement with power company AES to deliver large-scale energy storage devices. (see the Cleantech Group's Altairnano and AES partner on grid storage)
• Ormat Technologies Inc. signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with a consumer-owned energy cooperative serving Colorado and Nebraska for electricity generated from a four megawatt recovered energy generation power plant.
• Syntroleum has completed an $8.5 million initial funding for its renewable fuels venture, Dynamic Fuels. The joint venture between Syntroleum and Tyson Foods was set up to construct and operate multiple renewable synthetic fuel facilities.

Browse previous deals here.

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• Report calls for forest preservation

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