Cleantech deals over the past week:

• Dan Primack reported on Monday that ZeroPoint Clean Tech, a developer of biomass gasification technologies, has raised a $3.12mm Series B.  Investors weren't disclosed.

•  LedEngin, a developer of LED packaging solutions for solid state lighting, has raised an $11mm Series C.  The round was led by Partech International, and previous investors WK Technology Fund and individual investor Dr. Lu also participated.

• Water management darling HydroPoint topped off their Series C round with an undisclosed additional amount of funding by Citi Alternative Investments.

•  Nordic Windpower has taken in a "significant investment" from Goldman Sachs.

• Is it a venture deal?  Unclear.  But wind developer EverPower took in $55mm from Good Energies.  Interesting to note the mention of Good Energies having a longer investment horizon than most venture capital firms.

Cleantech investors in the news:

• Tyler reports on the launch of the Canadian Cleantech Fund.

•  Belgian VC Capricorn Venture Partners has raised EUR 50mm so far for their Capricorn Cleantech Fund, with hopes to make a final close at EUR 75-100mm.

• Braemar Energy Ventures has closed on their second fund at $250mm.

• GreenTech Media has the scoop that Mark Huang appears to be leaving GE's cleantech investing team.

• Cleantech (and especially the venture capital community) should have more women managers and investors.  Here's a good list of 10 of the better known members of what is currently a very small club.  Of course, Lauren Bigelow of the Cleantech Network really should have been on the list as well -- here's a good recent column by Lauren on corporate cleantech activity.

Update on the New England cleantech cluster:  Here's a good interview with Massachusett's Ian Bowles on the state's efforts to promote decoupling and other important energy policy changes.  It's clear that there's a lot of momentum in Massachusetts and around New England to promote the faster development of a strong clean energy economy -- and as this article illustrates, cleantech can be an important driver of jobs growth.  That's why it's very encouraging to sense the state moving quickly beyond basic rhetoric toward real action. Other news and notes:  Good venture exit trends across all categories...  It's shameless promotion of an @Ventures portfolio company, but besides that this is a great article on the problems of biodiesel availability at the retail level...  Jennifer Kho notes that demand response and energy management is in a rapid-consolidation phase...  Here are a couple of interesting analyses on energy generation technologies and transportation fuel choices...  Neal writes some interesting thoughts on hybrids and the electric car...  Finally, they're going to be using Grey's Anatomy to measure energy use?

Every day it seems like yet more hype gets piled in on solar.  And it's a bit hard to tell, perhaps, whether the hype is following the dollars or the other way around -- E&Y tracked 46 solar startup venture financing rounds in the U.S. and Europe in the first half of the year, an amazing pace.  Is there room for all of these companies and all of this capital? Certainly the market is now open and receptive and rapidly maturing, if reports from the recent Solar Power 2007 conference in Long Beach are any guide.  John Addision gives a bit of an overview, and mentions that registrations had to be closed a week ahead of the event because of too much interest, as well as the fact that 12,500 people ended up attending (or about the same number of people as live in San Anselmo, CA).  Ed Guenther also provided a lot of good coverage of the event, for those that couldn't shoe-horn their way in (see posts here, here, here and here). Other major news over the past fortnight alone includes FPL's $1.5B announcement with Ausra, Konarka's $45mm follow-on round (co-led by Good Energies and Mackenzie Financial Corp, with new investor Pegasus Capital and participation by existing investor), Soliant's move to abandon low-concentration PV and move to high-CPV, and an almost-daily march of exuberant news coverage in financial news sites and mass media news alike. But readers with contrarian investment outlooks will view all of this activity with some skepticism.  So perhaps it's time to revisit the post from just a few months ago where we discussed the possibility of a "bubble" in cleantech.  At the time, we dug down a bit into the other white-hot sector (biofuels), but admittedly we punted on the solar question. Is there a bubble in solar venture capital?  There are indeed some sobering indications:

• As mentioned above, there were 46 solar-related venture financing rounds in the first six months of 2007 in the U.S. and Europe, according to E&Y/ Dow Jones.  And they weren't small rounds, either -- the survey tallied the aggregate amount of the investments at nearly $1B.
• In the public markets (which as we've discussed don't necessarily point to a bubble in the private equity markets, but do contribute to "irrational exuberance" across investment categories at times) companies like SunPower have seen their market caps increase as much as 450% over the past 24 months alone.  Solar IPOs continue to queue up.
• The market remains heavily impacted by regulatory drivers -- as evidence, note John A.'s point that Germany's favorable policies are behind the fact that that single (smallish) country accounted for 40% of solar installations over the past 12 months.
• Polysilicon supplies have been and continue to be tight, constraining the capacity for production of Si-based PV systems.  Meanwhile, 2nd and 3rd generation solar tech developers are only now starting to finally make it out to the market, in many cases after some unanticipated delays.
• Anecdotally, valuations have risen and round sizes have gotten bigger in the solar sector in particular.

On the other hand, there are some reasons for continued optimism:

• Poly-Si supplies are expected by some to triple by 2010 (although there isn't quite consensus on the specifics).  And while it may have taken a while in some cases, 2nd and 3rd generation low-cost producers are starting to commercialize their initial products, suggesting the potential for big price declines -- and corresponding demand increases -- in the near future.
• Favorable government policies show little signs of fading, and in fact if anything the commitment at federal and state levels appears to be growing stronger.
• While the pace of venture financings into the sector has been on a blitz lately, it still pales in comparison to other VC investment sectors like IT and telecom, which E&Y/ Dow Jones tracked at $7.3B in the first six months of the year in the U.S. alone.
• Not all of these financings went into competing technologies -- in many cases the rounds went into upstream or downstream opportunities, as the solar value chain continues to mature on the whole.
• Many of the biggest "venture" rounds weren't really for tech development, but were instead focused on building out manufacturing capacity, for companies on the cusp of commercialization and exits.
• Most importantly, the worldwide PV market was $20B last year, up a whopping 40% from the previous year, and showing no signs of slowing down.

Remember, there are some fundamental reasons for solar to be an especially attractive sector for venture capital investments.

1. Fast-growing, big markets.
2. Lots of room for multiple winners -- different types of rooftops, ground-mounted versus roof-mounted versus BIPV,  hardware versus services, utility-scale versus distributed scale, etc.  There are so many different market niches in solar, as the ecosystem evolves it will never become a "winner-take-all" market, even as consolidation ramps up.
3. On the tech side, it scales much like semiconductors, a fairly familiar market to investors, who can apply their relevant networks and expertise to help companies grow effectively.
4. Good opportunities for exits, and earlier successful exits could become tomorrow's acquirers of today's investments.
5. Increasingly available pool of experienced entrepreneurs in the sector.
6. Very credible development paths for achieving (eventually) cost-effective PV or other solar power approaches, even in the absence of regulatory incentives.
7. Tons of world-class research being deployed, and vital governmental support at the regional and national level.

However, although these factors suggest reasons for being optimistic about the long-term outlook for the sector, it doesn't mean that things can't be moving too quickly at this particular moment in time.  Clearly there are some reasons to be cautious in the face of recent activity and hype. As for the verdict, solar VC bubble or not, it's too tough to say.   That's a different answer than I would have given just a few months ago, when a "no" would have been the simple answer, but the crowded marketplace and rising valuations and deal sizes is worrisome.  Also worrisome is seeing VCs get out of their tech-focused comfort zones to invest in unfamiliar business models.  And when you hear stories about unworried investors and entrepreneurs who haven't done their homework, that's got to raise some eyebrows. Are there a lot of reasons to be very optimistic about solar markets and the prospects for solar investments long-term these days?  Absolutely.  But could we be due for a bit of a break in the hyper-activity?  Quite possibly, but maybe not quite yet.  In the meantime, VCs with existing investments in well-positioned solar tech developers will be enjoying the ride...