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Continued on Page 2 >> 1 By Felicity Carus
AOL Energy
This year's high-profile bankruptcies such as like Energy Conversion Devices, owners of United Solar Ovonic and battery maker A123 did not improve investor sentiment in the cleantech sector. While other cleantech IPO registrations were withdrawn this year, including BrightSource, Genomatica, Enerkem and Elevance. But while the media were focused on high-profile failures and controversies around the Department of Energy's loan program, some individual stocks, did well in the marketplace, said Genieser. EnerNOC, an energy management solutions company, "was the darling of the marketplace and outperformed the market from the beginning of the third quarter," he said. After concerns earlier this year about Tesla's new Model S, the car was the first electric vehicle to win MotorTrend magazine's Car of the Year award and hit a three-month high in trading. Tesla was also ranked number one in this year's Deloitte Technology Fast 500, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology companies in North America. Tesla has grown 279,684% between 2007 and 2011. Meanwhile, EnerNOC was ranked 228th out of 500 with a revenue growth of 371%. SolarCity, a residential solar installation company started by Elon Musk, Tesla's founder, is also expected to go public before the end of the year to raise around $151m. Genieser said that although global investment in cleantech would be an estimated $219bn in 2012, down from $257bn in 2011, figures for this year were more or less flat with $220bn invested in 2010. Morgan Stanley also predicts a rise in natural gas prices from an average of $2.83 per mmbtu this year, to $4 per mmbtu in 2013, said Genieser, which would increase opportunities for renewables to achieve grid parity. Superstorm Sandy had also resurrected discussion about a carbon tax in Washington and renewed interest in smart grid technology. "One of the silver linings is that VCs are returning to where they are most comfortable - energy smart technology software communications, green IT," said Genieser. "It's no surprise that is where we're seeing large chunk of dollars going to [that]." Page 2: A new business cycle? >>
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