France-based clean technology-focused venture capital firm Aster Capital, which is backed by three corporations, has invested €4m ($5.2m), as part of a €7.5m round, in Austria-based SolarFuel.
Local car parts maker Ventrex Automotive joined Aster in SolarFuel’s round as the portfolio company is developing technology to enable the conversion of renewable electricity into synthetic gas.
Alexander Schlaepfer, partner at Aster Capital, said: “We have been looking for some time at what technologies are required to optimize large amounts of electricity generated by renewables and we recognized that SolarFuel not only presents a very viable solution to store energy but actually to arbitrage renewable energy between different uses.”
Aster had industrial groups Schneider, Alstom and Solvay commit to its second €100m investment fund.