Despite Gloom, Promising Clean-Tech Trends

Despite Gloom, Promising Clean-Tech Trends
By Libby Tucker
March 12, 2009

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/despite-gloom-promising-clean-tech-trends/

The clean energy sector grew by leaps and bounds last year - despite the global economic downturn and the brutal beating to the stock market. Revenues from the solar photovoltaics, wind power and biofuels sectors increased 53 percent in 2008, to $115.9 billion from $75.8 billion in 2007 - and are predicted to reach $325.1 billion in the next decade, according to a Clean Energy Trends report released this week.

Just don´t expect the same high-growth trend to continue in 2009, said Ron Pernick, a co-founder of Clean Edge, the West Coast technology research firm that produces the annual report. Despite the long-term promise of the renewable energy industry, Clean Edge expects revenues to "remain level or decrease slightly"until global credit markets are restored and investor confidence returns, he said.

New companies and technologies will be the hardest hit. Only 43 companies raised more than $50 million in initial public offerings (I.P.O.s) on United States stock exchanges last year, down from 272 in 2007, according to Renaissance Capital.

Fewer I.P.O.s, in turn, make it harder for venture capital firms to unload their current investments and make room in their portfolios for new companies, according to the Clean Edge report. Instead, renewable development will rely heavily this year on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which provides some $70 billion in direct spending and tax credits for clean energy and transportation.

"It´s not going to be a happy year for start-ups,"said Joel Makower, a co-founder of Clean Edge. The economy, he said, "will probably stifle innovation in a lot of good technologies."

Despite the gloomy outlook, five trends in particular offer emerging market opportunities in 2009 and will contribute to the growth of the clean-energy technology sector in coming years, according to the report.

The merging of Internet technology with the nation´s electric grid to create a smart grid will lead to a network of new devices by companies like BPL Global and GridPoint.

Long-distance transmission lines are also in high demand to connect renewable resources in rural areas to population centers, and energy storage technologies, like large-scale lithium-ion batteries and compressed air systems, produced by Deeya Energy, General Compression and others, are in demand by utilities that mange wind and solar resources.

Clean Edge also predicts the expansion of micropower, or small-scale power production at homes or businesses through solar installations, co-generation or other means. And new international markets for clean energy are forming in countries like Belarus, Turkey and Tunisia.