Three of the US’s largest listed companies have committed a combined $300m to launch Energy Technology Ventures, a corporate venturing joint venture to invest in about 30 early- and growth-stage clean-tech companies over the next four years.
Industrial conglomerate General Electric (GE), energy utility NRG Energy and oil major ConocoPhillips have provided undisclosed-sized tranches of the $300m.
The Energy Technology joint venture is the first time NRG and ConocoPhillips have started a corporate venturing programme, whereas GE has been active in clean-tech through its GE Capital business units and set up a $200m clean-tech competition with four venture capital firms last year.
Energy Technology Ventures has already backed three companies: solar panel maker Alta Devices, coal-to-methane gas producer Ciris Energy and renewable energy group CoolPlanetBioFuels.
In October, GE has joined a consortium including venture capital (VC) firm North Bridge Venture Partners investing $8m in CoolPlanet, which converts low-grade biomass into high-grade fuel and carbon that can be stored.
Earlier this month, GE also invested in Ciris’s $23.9m series B round, alongside VCs Khosla Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures and Rho Ventures.
Last week, Alta Devices received $3m in US government grants as the company prepares to launch its product next year, having received seed funding from VCs Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Technology Partners.
Kleiner Perkins is one of four VCs – the others being RockPort Capital, Foundation Capital and Emerald Technology Ventures – helping GE source deals for its $200m Ecomagination competition.
GE said its Energy Financial Services corporate venturing team that had been part of the Ecomagination challenge was now seconded to the joint venture (JV) to source deals.
Its spokeswoman said: "Going forward, any investment opportunity arising from the Ecomagination challenge that meets the JV’s investment criteria will be considered for an investment by the JV."
However, management of Energy Technology would be by representatives of GE, NRG and ConocoPhillips, she added.
The Energy Technology joint venture will target energy technology companies in the renewable power generation, smart grid, energy efficiency, oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear energy, emission controls, water and biofuels sectors, primarily in North America, Europe and Israel.
Kevin Skillern, leader of venture capital at GE Energy Financial Services, which has invested about $200m in 27 companies since January 2006, said: "Partnering with major energy companies such as NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips enables us to pool our financial resources and technological expertise, along with our extensive relationships, to provide more than money to emerging energy technology companies."
Of the 27 companies Skillern’s team have backed, four have floated: A123 Systems and Codexis on the Nasdaq stock exchange, Orion Energy Systems on the American stock exchange and China High Speed Transmission in Hong Kong.
Clint Freeland, NRG’s senior vice president of financial structure, said: "America’s greatest competitive advantage will always be our people’s ability to innovate, and, with only moderate capital investments, we will unlock this innovation. Beyond investment, we hope to assist in the commercial deployment at scale of the energy technologies developed by these entrepreneurial companies."
NRG Energy has invested in emerging technologies in wind, nuclear and solar power including more than 2,000 megawatts of solar projects under development or in construction and has announced plans to electrify the transportation infrastructure in Houston, Texas, with the nation’s first privately funded, comprehensive electric vehicle ecosystem.
Richard Germain, manager of alternative energy at ConocoPhillips, added: "Through this partnership with leading energy companies like GE and NRG Energy, ConocoPhillips will help innovative companies accelerate the commercialization of new technologies and achieve the scale that benefits energy users, the economy and the environment."