Cleantech Private Equity – energy efficiency investments lighting the way

Article by Michael O’Neill

Michael O'Neill of CCC's Cleantech Private Equity team discusses the opportunities and challenges associated with energy efficiency investments.

"Chances are that if you walk into a new or recently refurbished Tesco store in the UK or Ireland - and most of us do at some stage or another - and look in the refrigeration unit the lighting in there will have come from an Irish company called Nualight, the only one in the world that focuses exclusively on LED Lighting for refrigerated units for shops. The Tesco deal was worth up to 5 million Euros to Nualight last year, which will grow to up to 10 million by 2013.

This deal is significant in several ways for not only is it good news for Nualight in Cork, where 25 more jobs will be created, it is great news for Tesco. By replacing fluorescent lighting with environmentally friendly lighting based on light emitting diodes (LEDs) energy consumption is reduced in the refrigerated glass doors displays by up to 65 per cent. The LEDs also eliminate maintenance costs, due to their longer lifespans and improve product placement by creating brighter more vibrant displays through better focus and colouring.

It is also good news for investors in Climate Change Capital's Private Equity Fund which led a 9.1 million Euro funding round alongside existing investors in April last year.

We see energy efficiency - and investing in it - as being one of the big growth industries both this year and beyond. It is a win, win because not only do consumers save money in the face of increasing fossil fuel costs, but CO₂ emissions and our dependence on imported energy are reduced - improving energy security...

The full article is included in the latest Preqin Global Private Equity Report

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Cleantech Private Equity – energy efficiency investments lighting the way