Fat Spaniel Technologies, Inc., a provider of data communications and monitoring infrastructure for the distributed power generation industry, has closed $7 million in Series A financing.

The investment round was led by clean technology venture capital fund DFJ Element, with an initial $3.5 million investment in April 2006, and was recently increased with an additional $3.5 million investment by DFJ Element and Chrysalix Energy.

Chrysalix Energy's managing director Greg Sullivan will join DFJ Element's Tim Newell on the board.

"Fat Spaniel is providing the critical data infrastructure needed to support the explosive growth of solar power and other renewable energy technologies," said Tim Newell, managing director of DFJ Element.

"Fat Spaniel has emerged as an early leader among the companies that are providing the intelligence to power the next generation of the power grid."

Fat Spaniel's next generation energy information services have gained traction among OEMs, installers and others needing to monitor and verify their renewable energy system performance in real-time from remote locations.

Specializing in the monitoring and management of both off-grid and grid-tied photovoltaic (solar electric), wind, fuel cell, and other renewable energy systems, Fat Spaniel transforms raw energy data into a web-enabled dashboard view and tracks the ongoing performance of the system in real time.

"We see Fat Spaniel's technology as a critical step in the clean energy supply chain; it meets multiple demands while increasing revenue potential in renewables," said Greg Sullivan, managing director of Chrysalix Energy.

"With its traction in solar electric and its recent entrance into solar thermal, Fat Spaniel continues to drive the market for software and data services that are crucial to the implementation of renewable and distributed power systems."