Clean Tech Investments

Sulfurcell GmbH is a global leader in the development and manufacture of thin film solar modules based on CIS/CIGSe (Copper, Indium, combined with Gallium, Sulphur and Selenium). The modules are sold into both the Building-Integrated PV (BIPV) market as well as into rooftop system and ground-mounted solar farms. CIS modules are more aesthetically integrated into building facades and do not suffer from material degradation after initial deployment.

The company is undertaking a significant expansion of its manufacturing capacity and has recently started production at a new plant in Berlin that eventually will have a capacity of 75MW. The funding required for this capacity expansion was secured through a €87m equity funding round completed in June 2008 that was led by CPE and Intel Capital. CPE invested €12m in the round.

Renewable Zukunft Ltd (RZ) builds, owns and operates anaerobic digestion (AD) plants with a primary focus on the fast-growing UK market. AD plants convert organic matter such as food waste, slurry or energy crops into biogas which can be used for the production of heat and renewable electricity.

The company's Austrian subsidiary BioG GmbH has developed a highly efficient plant design, deployed in 13 plants in Austria, which show superior efficiency and uptime when compared with industry norms. In the UK, RZ builds, owns and operates its plants in joint venture with feedstock partners, mostly in the agricultural and food and beverage processing and sectors. CPE is the sole institutional investor in the company.

Power Plus Communications AG (PPC) supplies state-of-the-art communication solutions to utilities for smart grid applications. The company’s products utilise the existing low- and medium-voltage grid infrastructure to deliver broadband connectivity which allows real-time, bi-directional, area-wide, reliable data communication at a cost equivalent to narrowband alternatives.

PPC’s networking technology is based on open standards and has already been successfully deployed in installations passing over 300k households. With the increase in data intensive smart grid applications, PPC provides a highly scalable and future proof communications concept to its end customers. CPE invested €10.2m as the sole institutional investor alongside the management team.

Climate Energy helps to efficiently manage public and private sector funds allocated to energy efficiency improvement into eligible projects with UK home owners.

Climate Energy has established the Affordable Energy network (www.affordableenergy.co.uk), a nation-wide network of insulation installers. In addition, the business operates an energy efficiency call centre for the Energy Saving Trust (www.energysavingtrust.org.uk) in the East of England, through which it provides advice to homeowners on measures they can take to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. CPE and Climate Energy expect ongoing public support to continue and increase for energy efficiency measures in the UK’s housing stock, given their cost effectiveness in helping the UK meet its CO2 reduction targets. CPE supported the management buyout of Climate Energy.

Enerqos is one of the leading EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractors in the Italian market and has a growing presence in France and Greece. The company is involved in the development and planning, technical construction and maintenance of solar PV plants, which it delivers as turnkey systems to customers including utilities and financial investors, with guaranteed performances. The product offering includes solar farms, large industrial roofs and BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaics) applications.

The company has successfully installed more than 10MW in Italy, one of the fastest growing markets for PV in Europe, and has subsidiaries in France and Greece. CPE invested €10m as the sole institutional investor alongside management and early founders.

Metallkraft has introduced a unique and proprietary advanced mechanical process that ensures that the spent slurry (used in the silicon wafer cutting process in the production of solar panels) is fully recycled and that all other materials are recovered. This technology results in 100% recycling without adding any chemicals and with no waste streams. The recycled slurry retains fully its cutting abilities, at a fraction of the cost of virgin slurry.

Metallkraft is headquartered in Kristiansand, Norway. It has built its expertise on years of research and development in the area of silicon and spent slurry recycling. Its 140+ staff are highly skilled and dedicated to serving the solar industry and the environment.

Metallkraft has factories in Kristiansand, Norway and Yangzhou, China which are in full production, and a plant in Singapore which will start servicing REC ScanWafer in April 2010.