Climate goals help boost global solar corp funding in Jan-Sept

Total corporate funding in the global solar sector, including venture capital (VC), public market and debt financing deals, increased by 55% on the year in the first nine months of 2023 even as deals suffered from inflationary pressures.

Global solar funding in January-September amounted to USD 28.9 billion (EUR 27.5bn), up from USD 18.7 billion a year back, whereas the number of deals slipped by 5% to 124, new figures by consultancy Mercom Capital Group show. The data from 267 companies is included in a report released on Thursday.

"Despite inflationary challenges, financing in the solar industry has remained robust through the first three quarters of 2023 thanks to a strong global push toward decarbonization and substantial incentives created by the Inflation Reduction Act,” said Raj Prabhu, Mercom’s CEO. He noted, however, that mergers and acquisitions (M&A) were hit by higher costs, delays and a tight labour market.

At USD 5.7 billion, global VC funding climbed by 4% year-on-year, coming from 51 deals. Most of the funds were raised by solar downstream companies, which concluded 28 deals with a total value of USD 3.8 billion.

The leader in VC activity was Germany’s 1KOMMA5, which raised USD 471 million to grow its energy solutions business, while US-based Enfinity Global came in second with its raising of USD 428 million. US power producer Silicon Ranch grabbed the third spot with a USD-375-million deal, followed by a USD-360-million round by India's CleanMax Solar and a USD-350-million funding by its compatriot Juniper Green Energy.

Solar public market financing in the nine months stood at USD 7.2 billion from 19 deals, marking a 47% increase on the year from the 11 clinched in the year-ago period totalling USD 4.9 billion. Announced solar debt financing activity jumped by 93% to USD 16 billion.

The M&A segment saw 75 transactions being finalised in the first three quarters of the year, against 90 a year back. The top deal was Brookfield Renewable’s acquisition of Duke Energy’s unregulated utility-scale commercial renewables business in the US for USD 2.8 billion.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.951)

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