Energy Technology Ventures, the investment fund formed by industrial conglomerate General Electric and energy companies NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips, will wind down at the end of 2014, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Formed at the start of 2011, Energy Technology Ventures had planned to invest up to $300m in about 30 next-generation energy companies.
However, it ended up backing only 19 and the fund has not disclosed how much it invested in total. Its last new investment was made in January 2014, in oil and gas services provider Ziebel, though it reportedly made follow-on investments in seven portfolio companies during the year.
Ricardo Angel, managing director for energy General Electric investment subsidiary GE Ventures, said: “The planned four-year investment period is coming to an end this year and we will move into the planned four years of support and growth for our portfolio companies.”
The winding down of the fund follows a downturn across the energy technology industry over the past two years, as the wind power sector matured, the biofuel sector stalled and solar cell prices fell through the floor.
Companies backed by Energy Technology Ventures over its four years of operations include biofuel producer Cool Planet Energy Systems, which raised $100m in March this year, CO2 conversion technology developer Skyonic and oil recovery specialist Glori Energy, which went public in April 2014 through a reverse merger.