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Soliant Energy Receives Approximately $21 Million in Funding

Soliant Energy

Soliant Energy, a Monrovia, CA-based developer of solar technology solutions for the commercial rooftop market, announced at this week's Solar Power International '08 that it raised nearly $21 million in venture capital.  This financing was led by the venture capital group of GE Energy Financial Services, which invested $2.5 million.  Soliant’s other investors participated in this funding round, led by Convexa Capital. Previous Soliant Energy investors include RockPort Capital Partners, Nth Power, Trinity Ventures, and Rincon Venture Partners.

Art Buckland, Soliant's CEO, said, "GE's strategic investment is validation that our approach provides commercial customers with the lowest-cost solar electricity at the plug."

“Concentrating photovoltaic solar power is especially viable for space-constrained applications such as commercial rooftops, and Soliant is well positioned with its elegant design, market-leading efficiency and potential for low installed cost per kilowatt hour of energy produced,” said Kevin Walsh, Managing Director and leader of renewable energy at GE Energy Financial Services.

Soliant Energy was founded in 2005 and was known as Practical Instruments until early 2007.  Using solar concentrators and other features, the company is developing products that it states will provide significant value for the commercial rooftop market.  Soliant Energy is aiming to open a 40-megawatt production plant and ship its first products for commercial rooftop applications in late 2009. Additional backgroound on Soliant Energy is available in this 2007 interview of founder Brad Hines (MP3 file, right-click to download). 

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SJF Ventures to Present “Cleantech Companies in Mainstream Markets: Fourth Annual CEO Panel on Innovative Strategies” on June 11

On Wednesday, June 11, SJF Ventures will present a program entitled Cleantech Companies in Mainstream Markets: Fourth Annual CEO Panel on Innovative Strategies.  This event will feature presentations from CEOs of the following nine cleantech companies, which represent sectors including alternative energy, transportation, electronics recycling, and consumer products: 

This event will also include a keynote address by Kevin Skillern, Senior Vice President at GE Energy Financial Services, who leads its venture capital team that is focused on the energy and water industries. GE Energy Financial Services has more than $19 billion in assets and is investing more than $5 billion annually.

"SJF Ventures is committed to supporting cleantech innovation," said David Kirkpatrick, Managing Director and co-founder of SJF Ventures. "Past presenters from this event have raised more than $130 million in venture capital, which is a testament to the caliber of the CEO presenters and the success of this event."

"Since presenting at last year’s CEO Panel, SJF Ventures has been a valuable resource for Helios Coatings as we looked to raise additional capital to ensure growth for our company," said Mark Leininger, CEO, Helios Coatings Inc., Canton, OH. "The connections we made at this and other events organized by SJF led directly to our completing a capital raise of over $4.2 million, at a time when raising capital in the cleantech sector has become increasingly more competitive."

This program will take place from 8:00 AM – 1:30 PM at Deutsche Bank, 60 Wall Street, New York, NY.  Although online registration is now closed, the event registration page has information on how you can register by phone.  Note that according to the event press release, pre-registration is required.

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