Investors Show Continued Interest in Energy Technologies

Venture capitalists are maintaining their record-high investments in emerging energy technologies, say managers at one firm organized to develop such investment opportunities. Energy-technology companies represented approximately 2.6% of all venture capital investing in 2004, say managers at San Francisco-based Nth Power , up from less than 1% prior to 2000.

Though the number of venture capital deals in energy technology dropped in 2004, compared to 2003 figures, the average dollar amount per deal grew more than 18% —to $7.5 million—according to a report by Nth Power principal Rodrigo Prudencio .

Distributed energy and power reliability are areas seeing growing investor interest, Prudencio says, with fuel-cell and solar technologies leading the way in the distributed-generation sector. Power-reliability leaders include battery companies that address mobile computing and portable medical devices, along with power sources for wireless networks and new sensor applications.

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