Total corporate funding, including venture capital funding, public market, and debt financing, into the solar sector in Q1 2019 came to $2.8 billion, up 10 per cent at $2.5 billion raised in Q1 2018. Mercom Capital Group in its report highlights trends for the global solar sector in the first quarter of 2019.
“The solar industry was on a much stronger footing at the beginning of this year compared to a year earlier, when the industry was hit with tariffs, subsidy and installation cuts in China, and a module oversupply situation. The market is upbeat, and solar equities rebounded strongly in the first quarter. China is still a wild card, and depending on its 2019 policy direction, it could have a significant impact on the solar industry,” said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group.
Global VC funding for the solar sector in Q1 2019 totalled $176 million in 13 deals, compared to $161 million raised in 22 deals in Q1 2018. The majority of VC funding raised in Q1 2019 went to solar downstream companies with $111 million in seven deals. The top VC deals in the first quarter of 2019 were: $65 million raised by Yellow Door Energy, $41 million raised by Oxford PV, $37 million secured by BBOXX in two funding deals, $20 million raised by Aurora Solar, and PEG Africa’s $5 million deal. A total of 28 VC investors participated in solar funding in Q1 2019.
Public market financing
Solar public market financing came to $247 million in three deals in Q1 2019, compared to $103 million raised in four deals in Q1 2018. Ginlong (Solis) Technologies had a rare solar IPO in Q1 2019. Announced debt financing came to $2.35 billion in 19 deals during Q1 2019 compared to $2.3 billion in 18 deals in Q1 2018. Most of the debt raised in Q1 2018 was by solar downstream companies. There were three securitisation deals in Q1 2019.
Project funding
Large-scale project funding in Q1 2019 touched a record high with $5.68 billion in 43 deals compared to $2.8 billion in 47 deals during Q4 2018. In a YoY comparison, $2.7 billion was raised in 57 deals in Q1 2018. M&A activity was steady with 18 solar transactions in Q1 2019 compared to 19 transactions in Q1 2018. Of the total 18 transactions, 14 involved Solar Downstream companies. Led by investment firms, about 5.9 GW of solar projects were acquired in Q1 2019 compared to 4.8 GW in Q4 2018 and 7.7 GW in Q1 2018.